For a few caps more
by The Whiterose Chronicals
Summary: The Legion's been a scourge on the wasteland for a long time, a child was born into slavery within the legion. Kid, dubbed by the NCR who saved him from a terrible fate. Although, branded by the Legion he can never forget the past. Taking a courier job from Primm, he gets shot in the mouth and left for dead. Featuring Mod characters Niner and Willow!
1. Chapter 1

**This -surprisingly- isn't my first fallout story, but seeing as that one was absolute shit, I decided to delete it and re-write it, things and changes needed to be done to it. Instead of a simple spelling and grammar check, I decided that the story and narrative was fucked so here we are with this one. Please leave a review to tell me what I need to work on throughout the writing. Thanks!**

**Prolouge**

Long ago, before the bombs fell, there were vaults built to house the rich and the entitled. Why they were built was unclear until their doors opened. The vaults had experiments for all of them, what happens when you have a dictatorship? What happens when you fill one full of plants? What happens when you fill one full of guns?

Fortunately, some vaults were salvation, no experiment in them. But there was something else about some vaults, they weren't built to house anyone, in fact, they were never even opened until 2237.

Some travelers were kicked out of new Vegas, they took up housing in a small ghost town built years before for 'wild west' re-enactment. They started trying to make the town secluded from the rest of the Mojave, joining the buildings together with rubble found in the wasteland. Soon, they had their own 'vault' on the outside with stone walls and brahmin skin roofs, they felt protected. However, soon the outside world was becoming too much, they decided that they needed more protection than they already had. So they dug down into the earth and before long, they found it, a vault, untouched by the nuclear wastes or the aftermath of such. It had been buried so that people would never find it.

Why? There was no why. No-one lived in the vault, the non-perishable food, intact, the water purifier, flawless. Soon, vault town became a ghost town again as the residents moved into the vault, away from the outside world, away from the terror of the Legion. By 2265 everyone had immigrated to the vault in a panic as the Legion began it's rein of terror.

When the Legion raided the camp, they found nothing but a small child, left in a bundle of rags. Abandoned in the rush for safety. The infant was taken from the town and brought to a Legion camp it was there that the child became a slave. He knew no better, what he was raised to do, he had no idea what would happen should he do anything. By the time that he had grown into a small child, the slavery began, the Legion would never had tried to turn him into one of their own. At the age of 5, they branded his small frame on the back with a Legion bull. The pained scream of the boy lead the NCR patrol to the camp. The thing that made the situation worse for everyone was the fact that the boy didn't know what to do. Not understanding what would happen to him, the boy was taken by the NCR to be cared for. However there was no hope for the child to be cared for by the NCR, they were a military after all. Later, the kid was forced to stay in freeside in the care of the owners of the Atomic Wrangler. James and Francine Garrett.

By the age of 7, the kid learned chemistry and how to make and care for alcohol distilleries. He learned how to shoot with the kings, learned how to gamble and best of all, he learned to stop being a slave. At the age of 11 the boy knew all the tricks of the wasteland, everything he needed to survive even when the cities were not an option for him he could stay there. Something was missing though, the kid still didn't have a name. All this time he was out of the slavery days, he was called 'Slave boy' but the name didn't stick with the kid. At 12, he realised that the NCR was there for him, if the people who had rescued him were still alive. So he decided to look around the town of Freeside for work, he found something that he relished the idea of.

Simple work, a courier service for people who needed it, the Garrett's decided to tell him that he would go to Primm to help the town that needed help. The Kid went with an NCR patrol to the town of Primm where the NCR had begun stationing their troops. The town had lost law long ago, a deputy was all they had. The kid found that he was in much safer hands than he was back in Freeside, there were many kind hands that helped the kid along his way. The kid lived in that town for a very long time, close to his 16th birthday, the kid faced something that happened so fast that he couldn't understand.

After a long day of renovation work -on the Bison Steve- the kid found himself stuck in Limbo, feeling as if the life he had was pointless. Without a name or an age that the kid understood, he found himself stuck with no real reason -in his mind- to live. Yet, he couldn't kill himself, he wouldn't do it. Primm's residents knew that the Kid was depressed, but they wouldn't do anything about it, the fact was, the kid was good at what he did. Within a month, the entire of the Bison Steve was fixed, everything. The kid had restored the building to it's former glory, a clean shining beacon for people to come and stay where it was safe, before long, Primm had a sheriff that came and stayed in the Bison Steve, Primm was protected.

Suddenly, the kid began to realise that something was wrong with him.

**Kid's P.O.V**

"You can put your clothes back on now." Doc spoke as he finally stopped prodding at the burn on my back.

I got up and quickly slipped back into my Jeans, that's all I put on as I turned to the doc.

"Will it stop hurtin' now?" I asked, the brand mark on my back was beginning to hurt again.

"Unfortunately, Kid. Because it happened when you were so short, the fact you grew means the burn would stretch. You'll get used to the pain, don't worry about it." Doc finally packed up his bag and left the room.

When the door closed, this overwhelming flood of emotion hit me square in the throat. Feeling sick, I nearly hit the floor as I held back the sudden sadness. A mix of hate for the Legion and sorrow from the past created the Molotov cocktail that was thrown at my heart, a crash of glass as my knees hit the ground was the trigger that broke the dam. Tears streamed my face, it seemed like an overreaction in heinsight, but every time someone even mentioned the word Legion, the scars began to burn.

After my fit of silent tears was over, I dragged myself over to the bathroom, checking on my face. I was white, but tanned, I worked outside enough to get the colour I had. My blue eyes were sharp, tears didn't seem to do anything when it came down to the appearance of my face. Before I went out, I decided to take a look at my mouth again, fangs had been growing at the corner of my mouth, they were small and barely noticeable, but they were razor sharp. Finally, I pulled my gunslinger belt around my waist, a shirt over my head and my duster around my back. Walking outside, I realised that the weather was looking as if it were going to get cold soon, it was a good thing I had the duster to keep the cold air off of me.

"Hey, Kid. Looking for some work?" Johnson Nash, the runner of the Mojave express in Primm was waiting for me outside.

"You know I need some work, Sir. What do you have?" I'd done all I could fixing up Primm. The walls were reinforced, their power working efficiently and their plumbing was completely leak free.

"I got a package that need's deliverin' to new Vegas. Nothing too hard, you've got everything you need for a job like this by the looks of it." He pulled out a small package and handed it to me.

It had a little bit of heft for how small it was, with the package and invoice in my possession, it was time to move. My map was paper, but it was good enough to tell me that the quickest route was to go north, that was unless the stories about the quarry were true.

My journey, however. Was somewhat short lived. As I neared the town of Goodsprings, a large metallic object hit me in the head, knocking me out completely. Sudden darkness is always terrifying, it was always made worse when you didn't see the face of who did it when you blacked out.

When I awoke, I found myself hogtied, thankfully still clothed. My package however was no longer a part of my attire. My ears began to ring as I took in my surroundings, it was now nighttime, how it had taken them this long to get me up here was a mystery, it didn't matter anyhow. As I looked up, I realised I was face to face with a nickle plated 1911, loaded and a smarmy smile behind it. Before I could see the face that the smile belonged to.

_**BANG!**_

You can probably imagine what happened to me afterwards. See, my life didn't flash before my eyes, there was nothing really worth remembering except the life of work that I'd put into the wasteland, making it somewhat inhabitable for people who needed the help. That mattered little, even though I'd accepted death, he hadn't taken me this time, it seemed that where ever I was going didn't have much space to squeeze me in to the elevator.

A trickle of water hit me on the head from the ceiling, waking me up from my almost eternal slumber. The room was dark, light peaked in through some of the windows but it was barely enough to keep the room lit, soon, my eyes adjusted to the darkness. It looked as if I'd just woken up in some sort of medical office.

No-one around. I tried to swing my legs off of the bed, only to have a dizzy spell, stopping me from getting to my feet. The worst thing about this whole experience was the feeling of uselessness, not being able to get up was going to get on my nerves.

"There goes 250 caps." I sighed as I hung my head in my hands.

As my fingers touched the stitching, I realized that there was something strange on my face, scarred skin graced it, pretty deep too.

"You're awake." A doctor walked into the room, carrying what looked like my duster and belt.

"Guess I'm lucky huh?" I tried joking, but the scar on my face was causing some new anger to rise.

"Well, ya did got shot in the head. How'd you feel?" The elderly man set my equipment down on the medical bed opposite.

"Apart from this." I touched the scar on my cheek.

"I feel like a hand full of aces." I tried smiling, even though I knew it would look crooked.

The doc gave me a hand to my feet, I stumbled, knowing full well that I was in no shape to go on a wild goose chase for the grin that shot me in the head.

"Did anyone see what happened?" I asked.

"Nah, Victor did though. He's the securitron that dug you out of the grave they dug ya, if you could call it that... Here, I suppose you already have an idea of what you look like."

He handed me a mirror, I nearly dropped it. My face was indeed graced by a scar, deep and grey, ugly as ugly could get. Only one side of my face was ruined according to what I could tell, the other side was almost like it had never been touched.

"Guess I could pass for someone else now..." I realised something.

Where before I hated myself due to my past, now I had a way to start a new life, the execution that happened at the graveyard would have actually happened now. Kid was dead, someone new was born from the ashes.

"What's your name, kid?" The doc asked, sitting himself down.

I took a few moments before I gave my answer, I didn't really know what to say. Given the opportunity to change my life, I decided to give myself a new name, leave Kid in the dust and grave that was dug for me.

"I'm Jason, a courier for the Mojave express." Strength engulfed me, the shock of waking up out of close death was gone, it was as if I'd just gotten over a hangover.

I slid the belt on my hip, making sure that my pistol and ammunition was in it, they still took residence in the gunslinger belt. My duster on the other hand was considerably lighter, the Kevlar in the sleeves were gone, no protection on the arms.

"What do you plan on doing, Jason?" Doc asked as he handed me a bottle of water to replace my stolen canteen.

"I don't rightly know... I have to find a way to pay you back for this, then I guess I'll have to find that snake." I sighed, taking a long sip from the bottle, before sealing it and putting it safely on my belt.

Doc stood up and grabbed something of the table: A small, flat device with a screen on it. What looked like a pip-boy readus.

"If you're going back out there, I suggest you take this with ya. I don't have much use for it nowadays, you should find plenty of maps on that thing, you ever get lost, take a gander at it an' you should be able to find your way." He explained as he placed the device in my hand.

It was then I realised that my marked map was also stolen, the pip-boy was going to be a saving grace from here on. I thanked the doc again and again, although he still denied any pay I would have given him. I would have mistaken him for one of the followers if it hadn't been for his attire. Doc Mitchell knew his stuff, but even he couldn't stop my Legion mark from burning, when it was time to leave, he had one final thing for me to have.

"I know it might not seem necessary, but I guess you wanna hide that scar. Here." He handed me a bandanna.

I thanked him again, wrapped the thing around my mouth and walked out into the Mojave again. Sunlight was gracious as always, lighting my path no matter how dark it seemed in my head. For some reason though, I found myself thinking about the people I knew before, in a past life. It mattered little, my days of fixing people's mandatory problems were over, I'd rather have actually been killed than go back to laboring on minimum pay just because I felt it was the 'right thing'.

I found myself in the bar not long after. Needing a drink to take the edge off of the shock I was suffering. When I turned the corner to the actual bar, an argument between a powder ganger and a middle aged woman had broken out. All I needed to hear was the line.

"We're burning this town down to the ground."

I decided to intervene. Getting behind the guy, I grabbed his shoulder and turned him to face me, being a couple of inches shorter than him, he instantly placed a grin on his face. A simple gruff chuckle turned that the other way around.

"If you wanna make threats, do it to someone who aint scared to die." I spoke.

His face turned instantly, he seemed like he enjoyed the idea of taking on someone has skilled as he. Sadly for him, he had no idea just how much trouble he was in for.

"You think you're good enough to take on a powder ganger?" He close to growled at me.

I looked at his hip, a revolver was sat on it, he looked as if he were skilled enough to use it like a gunfighter.

"You think you're fast enough to take on a NCR gunslinger?" I grinned under the bandanna.

Before either of us knew it, we were outside in the street, 30 paces between us. Cobb and his revolver on one side, me and mine on the other. An old timer on the porch of the saloon was waiting to give us the signal.

"DR-"

_**BANG!**_

Cobb screamed in agony, his revolver hit the ground. Before he even cleared leather, my peacemaker was already out and living up to it's name.

"Holy shit." I heard behind me.

I holstered my sidearm and walked over to Cobb, my boots clicking as I walked. Kicking his gun away and grabbing him under his collar, I dragged him to look me in the eyes.

"You convict pieces of shit aint worth death. I promise you this though, I see another powder ganger in this town, or anywhere at all. You can bet your ass that there wont be a duel, or any fighting chance. You hear me, Cobb?" I spoke in his face, nothing to fear from a man who could be beaten by a teenager.

He nodded quickly, clearly fearing me.

"You got 30 seconds to get outta town." I threw him away from me.

I waited until I saw the Kevlar vest sprint out of view, there was no way he'd make it where ever he was going. Suddenly, there was a pat on my shoulder.

"Boy, I never saw anyone shoot like that in all my years. You earned a drink." The old timer pretty much dragged me into the Saloon again.

Soon, I found myself feeling famous among the towns folk. Everyone asking how I survived the gunshot, and how I managed to draw as fast as I did. It wasn't long before another patron entered the bar. He looked pale as a ghost, a carravaneer if ever I'd seen one.

"Cobb'll be back, he doesn't take things like that lying down. Before long his freinds'll be here, we won't have long." He panicked, visibly scared of something

He was right too, not half an hour later. More powder gangers had walked up to Goodsprings, lead by Joe Cobb with a slung arm. If he was right handed, he had no chance of winning against me in another duel, even though there wasn't going to be one.

I reloaded, needing all 6 cylinders for this rodeo.

"Hey, you aren't going out there alone." A woman and her dog came up to me.

"Tell you what, I'll distract them enough to get everyone who wants to fight into position for an ambush. If you hear a whistle, start shooting." I smiled, holstering my side arm.

The bar owner, Trudy, gave me her spare revolver. 12 shots to take down 6 people sounded polite. It wasn't until I heard...

"Gunslinger, get out here!" That I decided that the drink wasn't such a good idea.

I knew that I was going to be fine, opening the door and walking out into the street, it was like something out of a western holotape. Hell, even tumbleweed blew past us. I stood in the middle of the path, no gun in hand. Again, Cobb was beaten by me of all people, there was nothing to fear from him anymore, especially seeing as his freinds weren't exactly Legionaire.

"What's this about there being no duel?" Cobb sneered.

A couple powder ganger's laughed at me, as if they had no shadow of a doubt in their mind that they would be able to kill me.

"I thought I'd give you a chance seeing as you don't seem too good with your left hand." I smiled, tilting my head.

Cobb, taken aback threw an arm out towards his friends, who most of which were wearing dynamite strapped to their chest.

"Are you blind?!" He raged at me, nothing really would stop him from tying to kill everyone in the town apart from the town and me.

Before any of the powder gangers could sneer again, My right hand drew my pistol, fanning off all 6 rounds into one man in record time, hitting exactly where I wanted to hit him.

"You just wasted all your ammo!" Cobb laughed.

"Wait for it." I chuckled.

Not long after he started laughing did the dynamite on the unfortunate powder ganger explode, It was lucky that his cigarette hit the floor near the fuse. All the powder gangers were thrown away from the road, some landed on a picket fence, causing an unsavory end, others just lost limbs from the blast. Cobb on the other hand was still alive, writhing in pain and anger. I neared him, reloading relatively slowly. I was stood over him, kicking his pistol away again.

"So soon?" I laughed, grabbing the Kevlar off of his chest and the cigar from his jacket.

"What the fuck!" He spat out blood, he was pretty chewed up by the explosion.

"Word of advice, Cobb. It aint a good idea to smoke around dynamite. Keep that in mind when you're explaining to your friends in hell just how it is I beat 'em."

I grabbed his matches, then shot him in the head.

"Argh!" I heard a ganger charge from behind me.

With Trudy's revolver in my other hand, I used my heel to fan off a round into the charging powder ganger behind me. He hit the floor, dead.

"Hm." I put the cigar in my mouth and lit the end with the matches, not worrying about the scar at the minute.

"Oh." I forgot about the ambush in the heat of the moment.

I whistled, everyone's heads popped up, surveying the destruction I'd brought with me. People surveyed the road I'd just cleared with 6 bullets and a shit load of luck. Quickly, I made sure that everything was holstered and began to walk back. That's when I accidentally stepped on something solid. A rifle was at my feet, nothing a powder ganger would normally be carrying. I picked it up, taking in it's polymer body, built for the comfort of the shooter and a scope for 8X power. My luck was far from running out as I slung my new found weapon over my shoulder.

My debt to the town was repaid, I decided to walk away from the town only to be interrupted by the pale carravaneer.

"Look, I owe you much more than this. Cobb was after me, you stopping him just saved my life." He handed me a bag filled full of caps.

"Thanks, see you around..." I waited for his name.

"Ringo, and you are?" He also wanted my name.

"Jason. Gunslinger and Courier for hire." I joked as I walked away from Ringo and the town.

My journey was going to be long if I were to find the men who shot me, even though I didn't care about the package, the fact my face was fucked was going to be a problem. I kept walking until I happened upon a strange scene. A young man was shouting at his bike which appeared to be broken, what's worse, the guy had been drinking.

"Fuckin' fuck. Does this go... no... shit." He sighed, looking closely at his bike.

I decided to go and help the guy, to see what was wrong with his bike.

"Having trouble, stranger?" I asked kindly, standing behind him.

The guy turned and looked at me, before standing up and talking to me.

"Yeah, my uh... My bike's fucked." He admitted.

From where I was stood I could smell the dry gasoline from the engine.

"There's no gas in it friend." I tapped the gas tank, no surprise that it was empty.

The guy scratched his head before looking around at his gear that he'd spread out all over the floor. There was no gas to be found amoung his possessions, I was about to leave before he decided to talk to me again.

"I guess we've gotta go and get some then, eh?" He turned to me with a smile.

The smile was hopeful that I'd go with him, even though he barely knew me. In fact, he didn't seem to care about the bandanna around my mouth, it barely phased him.

"Alright... There's a gas station at Goodsprings, I'll go with you on one condition." I began.

The guy was like an excited puppy.

"We go to the graveyard afterward," I explained.

"Yeah, yeah. Come on, let's go. Name's Niner by the way." He turned and was about to walk away.

Niner was a couple of inches taller than me, a backwards cap on his head and a kevlar vest on his chest, a little like mine. He had short but unruly hair, his jeans were ripped and he had a strange sent of whiskey around him. Something about him seemed aluring to me, I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Name's Jason," I spoke as I began to walk with him.

Niner looked up ahead, I realized he must have heard the explosion and gunfire.

"What happened up there, Man?" He asked.

"Powder Gangers started threatening the town, they came back after I shot one of thier leaders in a duel. Guy didn't even clear lever before he found himself with 4 fingers... Anyway, the guy came back with freinds and decided they were going to raze the place, luckily one of them was smoking around dynamite... Boom, most of 'em go up with him, didn't take much to finish the fight." I explained with a smile.

"Jesus man, you did that? I guess you might be older than I think you are..." he joked around.

"I'm 17, I think. Don't let the bandanna fool you. Speakin' of which, how old are you?" I asked, seeing as Niner now knew how old I was.

Niner had to think for a good while before he answered, as he did so, he fumbled with his dog tags.

"Mid-twenties? I dunno man, I don't pay much attention to birthdays and things like that." He looked at me as he spoke.

Before long, we were back at Goodsprings. The bodies had been dragged away into a pit in the graveyard, we were outside the saloon before I turned to Niner.

"Look, Niner uh... I need to do this alone, the gas station's up the hill. I need to go to the graveyard alone." I explained.

"I get it, man. I'll meet you up there." Niner turned and walked away

I took a slow walk up the hill to the graveyard, the cigar in my mouth was the only comfort I had as I neared the hole that was supposed to be my grave. There was nothing inside it, nothing of interest anyway. A small wooden plaque had been placed near the grave, unmarked. With a heavy heart, I crouched down and put a hand on the ground, I realised there was something in the grave. The large brimmed hat I'd put on as I left the town of Primm, I didn't understand why these people shot me, less so that they decided to make it so dramatic, if they'd just shot me on the road there wouldn't have been anything to say about it, instead they do it in a crowded area. The killer was definitally a showman.

Sighing, I grabbed the shovel and began to fill in the hole, buiring Kid in the ground along with the story behind him. Once it was full and the ground was even, I grabbed the push dagger in my boot and the plaque. Cleanly, I carved the words

'Kid, born a slave, died a freind.'

It seemed decent enough, carefully, I put the plaque on the grave, the hat on my head and stood up. Blowing a puff of smoke outwards, I thought it necessary to say a few words.

"Well, you did you know... You buit because people told you to, you did everything you were told and didn't ask why. This was only a matter of time man, I guess you'll rest in peace." I spoke to the invisible entity on the ground.

I had a moment of silence, thinking about what I was going to do, depending on Niner's plans, I was hoping to go with him.

"Ruff!" Niner popped up from no-where, barking in my ear.

I jumped from the sudden action, nearly falling onto the newly furbished grave. The cigar fell out of my mouth, bandanna covering the scar.

"Fuck Niner." I breathed, not expecting the action.

He didn't seem too phased by my reaction, he looked at the grave I'd just finished, even Niner could tell it was new. Carefully, I stubbed out the cigar and saved it for another time

"Someone you knew, Jason?" He began to look sympathetic at me, realising that the previous action wasn't the right one for the moment.

"Y-yeah... A brother." I calmed down finally as I decided that time was time, and it was about time to leave the graveyard.

"Wanna talk about it?" Niner's gruff voice followed me.

I shook my head.

"Some chicken-shit playboy shot him in the head. Wasn't pretty." I adjusted the bandanna wondering where to go.

Niner came behind me, trying his best to seem understanding man.

"Hey man, I know what it's like to lose someone close to you, like losing a part of yourself right?"

I nodded.

"I've got an idea that'll cheer you up. There's this place I like to sit, awesome view, great for a drink. Come on."

Niner lead the way away from Goodsprings, over the hills and rough terrain. Hiking across a decent amount of ground was good to take the mind off of the events of the day, or allow you to think about it. I was thinking about Niner, why he seemed so kind and friendly to me, it had to be something more than the fact that we shared an experiance. Before long, we reached the giant cross that Niner was talking about.

He was right too, the view was beautiful, especially when the sun was setting the way it did. Niner set down his burlap back as he sat down himself.

"Here, get that down ya." He tossed a whiskey bottle my way. I caught it and took a deep drink from it.

The burn of the whiskey helped me think a little bit more clearly, I too sat down next to Niner. My head touching the back of the statue as I began to relax into it, the day was close to an end, there wasn't much that was left to do today.

"...I like this place, the day before I go home, I'm gonna come back here an' watch the sunset like this again." Niner took another drink.

"...You and me both." I sighed, taking another drink.

Niner knocked me a little.

"Go, easy man, I don't want you getting drunk before we get back to my bike." Niner laughed at me.

"Speakin' of which. Did you get gas?" I wondered.

...

"Uh, Nah man. These people don't even get shoes, I guess Primm will have somethin' for us." Niner leaned back into the monument.

Something told me that Niner and I were going to be staying together a lot longer than I thought we were.

**10 minutes later**

When we got back to Niner's bike, there was a certain something that got on his nerves, his bike had been set on fire.

"That wasn't on fire when we left was it?" Niner stopped moving, staring at the burning bike.

Knowing what would have happened, I slid down the hill and kept my eyes open, looking for the people responsible. The bike was fucked, nothing was salvageable from the burning mess. Niner, wasn't one to stay back for long, he was next to me again.

"Fuck man... Shit." He sighed, looking at the wreak in front of us.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of footsteps behind me again. Drawing my revolver and turning around, I saw a charging Raider with a sledgehammer. It didn't take very long to stop him with a pistol shot to the head. A similar sound happened to my side, Niner was pressed against me, back to back, filling a raider full of lead. Before long, the fight was over.

Sighing a breath of relief, I turned to Niner who was still looking at his bike.

"I don't believe it, man, this bike carried me here." He sighed, depressed.

"Don't worry, these things happen. Besides, the roads around here are shit, couldn't ride on 'em if your ass was Iron." I joked with him.

Niner chuckled a little, suddenly he kicked his bike over.

"You're right man, it was shitty bike too, always letting me down. See, all I need is you, Jason." He smiled at me.

I was taken aback at first.

"Me?"

"Yeah. Me and you, we're going to get to Vegas, even if we gotta walk there, eh Jason?" He put a hand on my shoulder.

"Me an' you." I agreed.

We began walking to Primm, although the day was ending. We decided to take up camp in what looked like an abandoned store. This was the kind of place I'd camp in, simply put, it was stronger than a sleeping bag at keeping the elements out, plus the fact that we could use the metal display cabinets as a fire even though the roof was closed. But it was sealed off, we could sleep in the store through the night.

"Erm, Jason. Why here?" Niner asked aloud.

"Would you rather sleep outside?" I joked, kicking some rubble aside so I could set my close to empty pack down on the ground.

I sat down, leaning against one of the cabinets. Niner followed suite and sat down next to me, he seemed to know that something was wrong with me.

"What do you want from Vegas? Women? Booze? Fame?" Niner knocked me with his shoulder a little.

"I dunno... Hell, I dunno what I even like." I actually thought about something new for the first time.

I knew about sex, Vegas was pretty famous for the prostitutes around and inside it. I'd never really thought about it, what it would feel like.

"Ah's easy enough man. I suppose you can figure it out what you want when we get there, try 'em both out." Niner laughed.

He was drinking and was especially drunk, he threw an arm around my shoulder. Slightly drunk, I ended up drifting off to sleep. Eventually, the sun broke through the cracks of the wooden hut we found ourselves sat in, my vision going from black to red woke me up. Quietly, I opened my eyes to find that I was in a different position than I was when I went to sleep. I was on my side, Niner behind me, something was definitely strange about the way he was holding me with his arms. I didn't mind, the comforting embrace was enough to relax me, even if it was just drunkenness.

Soon, Niner woke up, groggily. He realised that he'd been holding onto me like some sort of teddy bear. He slowly removed his arms from me, quietly he made his way around me to see if I was awake.

"Jason." He shook me.

"I'm up Nine..." I yawned, not wanting to get up.

Niner rolled his eyes and practically picked me up. Again, I didn't really care.

"You're light... Ready to go to Primm?" He set me on my feet.

I shrugged and picked up my pack, also making sure that my gun was loaded. Quickly, I grabbed my hat and set it on my head.

"Always."

**2 hours later.**  
**Johnson Nash**

Gunshots brought everyone's attention to the door. A convict opened the door, only to have a bullet put in the back of his head by the dark figure behind him. The figure was a little shorter than the guy he'd just shot. He blew the smoke from his barrel before he placed is Iron back in its holster. He walked in, spurs spinning as he walked inside the casino.

"Apologies for the mess convicts rarely surrender, even when their friends meet such messy end." He smiled as he walked forward towards me.

"Kid?" I wondered the hat covered the figure's face. After being a week, I was hoping he would come back.

"...You must be Johnson Nash." He sighed.

Kid's coat looked similar to what this stranger was wearing, if it weren't for the red hand prints that stained the leather of the jacket, I would have instantly thought he was the Kid.

"That's right, and you are?" I asked, holstering my pistol.

"The bearer of bad news I'm afraid. Your friend, Kid. Got shot in Goodsprings for a package, I was hoping you could answer some questions." He explained.

The kid was dead, the news hit me hard but it wasn't too surprising.

"You knew him?" I asked.

The figure took a while to answer, he took off his hat and placed it on the slot machine I'd sat near. It was the Kid's hat, something he only wore on occasion, or when the wind picked up.

"You could say that. Kinda twins if you think about it, NCR separated me from him when they dragged us out of that Legion slave camp. I was sent to the NCR camps, they trained me whilst... Alex could live in Freeside." He explained.

This being the brother of the Kid, I trusted him, if he were anything like the kid, there would be nothing to stop him from finding the people who killed his brother, something told me to help him in anyway I could, so long as I had proof.

"Did you find his body?" I asked.

He was silent for a minute before he looked up again.

"There wasn't much left of his face, I saw the burn on his back and knew it was him... This thing proves it, 's why I came here." He handed me the invoice of the package that Kid was supposed to deliver.

Suddenly, Beagle burst into the casino, he looked no worse for wear.

"I just broke myself out of the Bison Steve, the convicts are dead." He cheered as he walked in.

As Beagle neared Jason, he pulled his revolver out of his holster and pressed it against Beagle's head. There was definitely something that Beagle did.

"Don't act like the fucking hero, coward. My friend and myself broke you out of that motel, never take credit for something you didn't do." Jason growled

Beagle finally had the kick in the ass he deserved this whole time. The securitrons that the Kid dug up patrolled the Casino as the Deputy stalked away, another youngster walked into the Casino, carrying what looked like chems.

"Hey, Jason. We moving?" He called to Jason, who quickly holstered his revolver and bowed his head to me.

"Did you see any suspicious characters moving through the town? They may have some information." Jason ignored his friend.

"A couple of suits walked on through a few days back... Talking about some show they put on." I explained.

Jason closed his eyes and straightened up, he realized something.

"Vegas it is." He sighed.

"Believe me, Mr. Nash. Rest easy knowing the people who killed Alex will die a similar death." Jason nodded and turned.

"Kid, he won't need this anymore. You should keep it." I took the hat off of the slot machine and handed it to him.

Jason looked at the hat before taking it and placing it on his head again, he looked like a pale rider of sorts. As he turned away he called back.

"Much obliged, Mr. Nash." He and his friend walked out the door and shut the door behind them.

**Jason**

We walked outside into the brightening sunlight, the hat was a saving grace now I thought about it. Before I took another step, I took out my revolver and checked all the cylinders, loading the iron back up again, Niner and I began to walk away again.

"Hey, Jason. Can we stop off at the Mojave outpost? I got a little busyness I need to take care of." Niner spoke as we were about to walk away from the town of Primm.

There were people at the Mojave outpost I needed to talk to myself, I nodded and let Niner lead the way. The journey wasn't very eventful, however as we began to see another abandoned store, I decided to ask about Niner's little 'cuddle' at the store.

"How'd you sleep last night?" I asked innocently.

Niner arched his back a little.

"Amazin' man, I didn't think it would be that warm in there." He relaxed as we kept walking.

Something didn't seem right, Niner woke up with me in his arms, he would have known that something was different from when he went to sleep, that was unless he went to sleep after me.

"You don't do anything weird in your sleep do you?" I asked pensivly.

"Not really man, what's with all the questions about sleep?" Niner looked to his side at me.

I didn't really want to talk about the hug thing, Niner knew it happened and he was probably embarrassed about it. Plus it wasn't as if I minded the hug.

"Nothing, it's just I think I talk in my sleep." I kind of lied.

"Oh, right. Yeah, you do." Niner replayed looking forwards again.

"What?" This was the first I'd heard of me sleep talking.

Niner shrugged.

"Yeah man, you were talking about this Legion guy. I think you started crying too, I didn't wanna say anything about it." Niner explained.

Suddenly, gunfire.


	2. Chapter 2

**Last chapter was a little iffy but I can't put my finger on how, if people are prepared to give advice through a review then please do. I want to become a better writer from these stories.**

Being close to gunfire was nothing that anyone wanted to be in the wasteland, it was either the scene of some bloody murder or robbery, Niner and I didn't know what to do initally. When we saw that two people left a nearby tent, we knew what had happened.

"What do you wanna do?" Niner whispered sideways.

"Check inside, if they're the thieves then I can use the scope," I replied.

We snuck close to the tent, both men had got a little bit of distance away, they were in no hurry to get away from the scene. I opened the flap of the tent to see a blonde woman clutching a bloody leg, trying to bandage it quickly.

"Did you see those guys, they just robbed me!" She exclaimed.

Snap, with that little amount information I knew what had happened. Quickly, I turned around and drew my rifle from my back, what I found through the scope wasn't too much different than when I saw the two men last. They weren't that far away, so all I had to do was line up the crosshairs and

**BANG!**

The motor helmet exploded as the .308 hit him in the head. Quickly cycling the bolt, I found the other was looking for us, a rifle in his hand. Not taking any chances, I repeated my previous action.

**BANG!**

Head? What head? His head was gone. I cycled the bolt again before putting the rifle on my back again. I went back into the tent to tend to the woman.

"What happened?" I asked quickly.

Niner came into the tent with me and began looking at the shelves, a few chems graced the walls.

"Those guys just robbed me, they shot me in the leg so I couldn't get them again. Bastards." She explained, still clutching the bleeding leg.

Knowing that the bleeding would only get worse, I put my pack on the floor and retrived the half empty whiskey bottle that Niner gave me when we met, then gave it to the woman.

"Drink this, I need to get the bullet out," I ordered as I picked up the woman's leg and held it upwards to help control the bleeding.

"Niner, pass me that medkit off of that wall." I ordered.

Both adults followed my instruction and soon, I had a medkit to add to my possession. Getting Niner to hold the woman's leg, I searched the medkit for some sterile tools.

"What's your name?" I had to keep the woman talking, even though she wasn't in danger, it was good to keep her awake.

"Willow, thank you for helping me. Who are you two?" She put the bottle down.

Quickly I took the bottle in place of disenfectant and retrived some forceps and stiches.

"I'm Jason, this is Niner." I introduced us to Willow as I took my coat and hat off.

The woman's demanor changed when I began to inspect the wound with Niner's help. It looked fresh which meant I didn't need to use too many resources to close it up.

"Are you sure you know how to do this, man?" Niner looked at me as I rolled my sleeves up.

"I grew up in the NCR around medics, gunshots are daily routine." I smiled, knowing that I was raised around the followers of the apocolypse instead, I had to keep the story rolling.

The jeans that the woman wore were getting in the way of cleaning the wound, there was only one thing for it.

"Willow, I'm going to have to take these off or cut them open. Your choice." I explained quickly as I set aside the tools.

Willow blushed, but followed my instruction, undoing her belt and allowing me to help her pull them down below her knees. Niner on the other hand was just staring at her, making her uncomfortable.

"Niner, you should go and search the bodies for Willow's gear." I spoke as I began to clean the wound.

I broke Niner out of his trance. He thought about it for a minute and then realised what he'd been doing.

"Well, uh... What did they steal Wills?" He already gave Willow a nickname.

Willow stopped blushing, she tried to sit back up but I pushed her back down. She lay down and spoke to Niner.

"My rifle, it's a lever action. They also have a toy of mine, it's a pink bear." She explained.

Niner lit up slightly. He nodded and walked out the door, allowing me to continue with the procedure without Niner gawping at Willow's legs.

"Sorry about him, he doesn't have the best bedside manner." I sighed as I dampened a cloth with whiskey.

"That's OK." Willow nodded.

Quickly and softly, I dabbed at the blood that surrounded the bullet wound that she was suffering from. She was lucky, the bullet stopped before it could do much damage to the muscle and bone in her thigh. The bullet held together enough that I could use the foreceps to retrive the lead.

"This will hurt, please don't hit me." I close to prayed as I placed the forceps into the wound.

Willow instantly grabbed my wrist tightly as the forecep grabbed the bullet. When I removed it, she let out a silent scream of pain, her grasp tightened as the foreceps went in again. Her grip was almost enough to break my wrist as I pulled out the last of the lead.

"That's the worst part over, Willow. Please let go of my wrist." I spoke kindly seeing as my wrist was in considerable pain.

Reluctantly, she let go. Carefully I cleaned the wound again with the whiskey cloth and finished the whiskey off. With the relaxed steadyness that it brought me, I was able to sew up the wound quickly and without much pain given to Willow. I bandaged the wound up neatly and helped Willow pull her pants back up again.

With the tension released from my muscles, I sat back from my kneeling position and relaxed by lying on the floor, I was used to stiching wounds, but never had I had someone try and break my wrist while I was stiching their wounds. Even though the wound wasn't fatal, it would have gotten infected if she hadn't seen a doctor, the thing was that I couldn't bring myself to charge her for my servies.

"So, how long have you been on the road?" Willow asked.

"Not long, I heard my brother got shot in the head so I came out to Goodsprings to see his body. Some coward shot him in the mouth, I decided I'm looking for the man who did it. I met Niner not far from where Alex was shot, he was messing around with a bike that he was riding out to Vegas, there was something going on with him, I guess he's on chems." I sighed, explaining the events that lead up to this.

Willow tried to get up to a standing position, but her stiches were going to keep her other wise.

"Those stiches will ache for a while, do you have anyone around to take care of you?" I asked.

Willow shook her head.

"There isn't anyone here, I guess the mojave outpost could help." Willow wondered.

I shook my head.

"That place can't help many people, General wait-and-see is keeping it locked down about as tight as the Dam, unless he's just forgot about it." I explained.

Suddenly, Niner arrived through the tent again, holding what looked like Willow's rifle and bear. He seemed pretty happy with his findings.

"Found 'em." He placed the rifle and bear down with exemptual care and saftey, there was definitally something strange happening with Niner at the minute.

Willow seemed pretty happy that she'd been reunited with her rifle and bear. The problem was that she couldn't get up due to the wound. I explained the situation to Niner, he seemed to be able to understand what was going on at the minute.

"The outpost could help." He suggested.

I sighed, knowing that the outpost had no medic that would help wanderers. After a few hours of talking with each other, we began to know each other a bit more and my new story was developing with each mention of the past, it was like writing a book, only not actually writing and using your memory as paper. Eventually, Willow seemed able to move her leg, I'd been able to save the bone and muscle structure with the procedure.

"That's insane, man. Who taught you that?" Niner asked.

I shrugged.

"Some medic in the NCR, I can't remember his name. We got taught basic medical procedure and how to apply it to reality, the next day they send us into the medic tents and make us treat the soliders at Mcarran who've been hit by fiends. Honestly, I'd rather have been part of first recon." I joked with the others.

"They teach you like that? No surpise, I got trained the same way in California, only I found out it was bullshit, I didn't want to be a bullet sponge. Grunts get taught the same way... They teach us how to fight in the schools. 'Couldn't hurt' they said." Niner told his story of the NCR.

"My brother wanted to fight for the NCR, but he got turned down for a chem addiction. So he became a caravan guard. Maybe it couldn't hurt to get taught these skills." Willow sort of sided with herself.

"She's right, these skills are what we need in the wastes. Doctors are in short supply out here, decent ones anyway. Maybe not soliders though, landscapers would be a better use of NCR money. Build from the ground up, or refurbish buildings to where they can be used again." I agreed with both of them.

I was right too, the NCR the majority of them were soliders. The ratio of medic to solider was something like 1:30 which wouldn't have boded well on the battlefield or in the NCR regions. I decided that it was time that we tried to get Willow on her feet. Niner and I stood up and gave her a hand up so that she wouldn't put her weight on her shot leg.

Willow had to use Niner as a crutch as we 'hobbled' up the road towards the outpost. I covered them with my pistol from the animals that would have been out for some breakfast. It took a while to get up there, but before long we were under the shade of the NCR statue. Looming over us.

"Fuckin' hell." Niner sighed as we passed the statue.

We were safe enough, my pistol holstered we found a bench to sit Willow down. My stitches were holding up enough and Willow hadn't managed to tear them. It was only now that I realised that her eyes were incredibly bright compared to many people I'd met.

"Your eyes are very bright, Jason." She commented

Taken aback, I stutted in my reply.

"Th-thank you. Your eyes are very bright too." I couldn't come up with anything else to say.

Niner tapped me on the shoulder.

"Look man, I've got to deliver somethin'. I'll be back in a minute." Niner walked away from me and Willow.

The bright sun was turning the heat up to 11, I stuffed my duster into the pack I had, keeping my medical spplies and ammo towards the top. Whilst talking to Willow, I decided to refill my belt with ammunition.

"Very Cowboy." She laughed as I filled the belt with individual rounds.

"Look who's talkin'." I commented on the thatch hat she was wearing along with the leather gecko skin jacket that she was wearing.

My large hat was making short work of the sun, but I was getting very stange looks from passing soliders who'd been re-issued with some grey and brown combat armour.

"I think we're attracting a crowd." Willow looked around at the NCR that were beginning to crowd around.

There were a lot of people who were beginning to look at us for no real reason.

"Can we help y'all?" I called out to the soliders who'd been staring.

They instantly dispatched from where they were standing, leaving Willow and I in peace. I turned, shaking my head. Suddenly, another NCR grunt walked up to us.

"Are you the one's looking for medical care?" She asked.

Willow nodded.

The grunt lead her away, leaving me on my own to deal with my gear. That and the NCR who were standing around looking at me.

**Niner**

When I came back, I heard a couple of the grunts cheering around the corner. Jason was giving a little demonstration with his revolver. Spinning around and juggling the thing like it was nothing, like he'd been doing it since he was a kid. I broke through the crowd and caught up with Jason who froze when he saw me, embarrassed.

"What?" He asked.

"Where's Wills?" I wondered, noticing the eye candy was suddenly halved.

"Medic took her, I suppose I was wrong about the outpost. General obviously does care about the place." He smiled.

He continued with the revolver demonstration as I walked into the outpost, looking for Willow and her medic. I did find a medic station, only to have the door slammed shut when I tried to open it, I guess that there was some action going on behind the door that wouldn't have been too savoury for me to see.

Either way, with my pack full of chems still, Jason and Willow were going to have to help me drop it off. I guessed that the two had their own problems that they were going to deal with, I just hoped it wouldn't hurt the others in a way that they couldn't walk away from. As I sat at the bar, I realised that the bandana that Jason was wearing would have had to have been used to cover something up, I began to fantasise about what it was that was wrong with his face. Could i have been burns? A tattoo? Curiosity was going to kill the cat.

J walked into the bar after the demostration grew too tired to carry on, he wasn't followed by anyone of importance, he sat down next to me, knowing that something was on my mind. It was almost by magic he knew what it was.

"Don't dwell on it, what's beneath this bandanna is of no importance." He warned me.

"It's acne isn't it?" I joked.

"No..." J sighed as he leaned against the bar.

"Burns?" I tried.

"No. Look, Niner stop asking." J grew tired of me asking what had happened to him.

Not long after, Willow walked in, almost without any pain what-so-ever.

"Look's like Jason's a surgeon." She smiled as she sat down next to us.

"They gave me some painkillers after looking at the work Jason did. He did a pretty good job, only problem was the whiskey, though if you don't have the tools or equipment then I guess you don't have a choice." Willow explained.

"Hm, I don't know. Whiskey's been a good freind of mine when the steriliser's all gone. Makes a decent painkiller too. Ah well, at least we're sorted out." Jason smiled under his bandanna.

"Oh, Jason. The medic asked about your bandanna, I suppose she thinks you're hiding something." Willow began.

Jason's hand clentched into a fist, whatever had happened would have irked him quite a bit.

"Ah, leave it, Wills. He can look after it himself." I warned her.

Jason calmed down slightly as he retrived the bottle of water from his belt, he drank a little and put it back.

"Nevermind, what's next?" He asked.

Jason liked to plan ahead, I knew this much already, he was something of a optimist crossed with a pessimist. I didn't know what to call him, nor what to tell him.

"I need to get to Novac, a bit of busyness to take care of. What about you two?" I asked, wondering if they'd come with.

Jason put his hands to his head, he had to think about it for a while.

"I could go to Novac, there's someone that might have something of mine." Wills answered.

"Yeah, Novac... As long as we end up in Vegas I'm happy." He finally came up with something to say.

"So you're going to vegas, aren't you too young?" Willow leaned forward to talk to Jason.

"I'm 17... Shit..." Jason realized something.

"Alex was supposed to deliver a package there if he wasn't able to get in then..." Jason went back to deep thought again.

I shrugged at Willow, not really knowing what was going through Jason's mind. I wasn't sure if the guards at Vegas checked people's ages before they walked in, I knew that they needed a pass or something along those lines.

"You could pass for older if you took the bandana off?" Willow tried.

Jason's head hit the bar. A chuckle left my lips.

"If we're going to Novac, we're gonna need to get a move on." I brought myself together.

"That's true, I don't wanna be stuck out on the road in the dark." Jason dragged his head off of the bar and got up.

Willow got up too, trying her best to keep her weight on the leg that wasn't graced with a hole. She was lucky to have been around Jason when she was attacked, it was also a good thing that Jason was trained in this sort of thing, he was like a one-man army. When we got out on the road, I actually began to realise something about Jason. The road was a lonely place, if you had to walk between places on your own you'd get parnoid, weird things happening to your head.

It looked as if my idea about Jason was right. He was kind of scared of being alone, when Willow and I figured this out, we decided to make up a plan to see if it were true or not. Soon though, we reached Nipton. Jason froze, he stared at the smoke on the hill, fear struck in his eyes. Some red flags and bull pictures covered the gates of the town.

"..." Jason wouldn't speak.

"What is this man?" I asked I'd never seen this stuff before.

"Legion, I-I can't go in there." Jason covered his head with his hands.

Something was scaring him more than anything he'd seen before, it must have been the same Legion that captured him when he was little.

"It's OK, we can hide until they leave." Willow tried to calm Jason down.

He pretty much fell to his knees, it looked as if he was in pain. Out of no-where we saw that there was a powder ganger running at us. I aimed my SMG at him, slowing him up.

"Hey man, don't shoot. I just won the lottery!" He cheered at us.

Jason twitched, something about the lottery must have meant something to him.

"Are the Legion still in the town?" Willow interorgated

"Yeah, Vulpes is leadin' a group o-"

Jason had jumped up and grabbed the powder ganger by the collar and yanked the guy around, he definitally wasn't happy and would have killed the guy if he was pushed around enough.

"Vulpes?! Vulpes Inculta?!" Jason growled at the now cowering ganger.

The guy nodded, Jason found some sort of new rage to drive his knee into the ganger's neck. We were about to follow him until he turned around and told us to stop following him, he even scared us with the sudden turn of emotion.

"What do you think Vulpes is?" I turned to Willow.

"Whatever it is, Jason has a problem with it." She sighed.

**Jason.**

I stormed forwards through the town, a group of Legionaries walked out of the town hall. This was all too easy. I lowered my hat so that Vulpes couldn't see my eyes, if he remembered them. I felt his presence, a cloud covered the sun.

"Don't worry, I won't have you strung up on the cross like these profligates," I remembered his voice, like nothing I'd seen in a long time.

"Awe unto Ceaser, for death is coming." I semi growled, reciting one of Vulpes' quotes from the camp.

He didn't speak, he must have been visited by a ghost.

"I hope you didn't forget me Vulpes." I tilted my hat up, revealing my eyes.

His head was graced by the same coyote head and goggles he had when he was raising me as a slave, having a kid around you like that would have stuck with you.

"Fearless Vulpes, fearless... Where was that fearlessness when the NCR came knocking at the camp? Where was it when your men died one by one? Where was it when I ripped your second's throat out with my fucking teeth?" I threw my hat to my side and pulled my bandana down.

Clearly a few of the Legionaries were somewhat believing of my story, however, none of them would have acted on them. However, Vulpes hadn't spoke, even though I'd given him ample amounts of time to speak.

"...Nothing to say?" I sighed.

"Never has a slave come back to its owner." He seemed astonished as if I'd died and come back, well he didn't know that.

"I wasn't a slave. I was a time bomb Vulpes, you should have known that being raised a slave without knowing anything else would have lit the fuse on anyone, especially when they were going to be sold or rescued... How much do you think I've learned over the years? Enough to bring vengeance?" I smiled, putting my thumbs in my belt.

"Legionai-"

**Bang bang bang bang bang bang *click***

My quickdraw saved my life in a lot of circumstances, however, all I managed to do was kill the Legionaries, Vulpes and his 3 dogs were still alive. His grin told me everything, he knew I was fucked without help. I certainly wasn't going down without a fight, however, the dogs remained still, they didn't advance on me. They sat down happily looking at each other whilst Vulpes decided he was going to keep glaring at me, he drew what looked like a minuature chainsaw.

With unbridaled rage, I dropped my pistol, roared and lunged myself into Vulpes' chest, this wasn't without consequence however, his chainsaw ripped into my kevlar vest, sliding down just touching my skin. I was without a blade to end Vulpes' life, so I used the next best thing I had on me. I bit into his neck, clentching my jaw down. My bite was bigger than I thought it was, Vulpes soon began bleeding as did I, not long after, he stopped breathing due to the conciderable chunck of throat he was missing.

Goroggily, I got up from the corpse and spat the piece of flesh back at the body. Soon, Willow and Niner came running, realising what I'd done, hoping that I wasn't dying. My wound wasn't very severe, so I put my bandanna back over my mouth and pulled the vest down a little. Niner arrived by my side first.

"What did you do? Was this that gunslinger thing you were talking about?" He grabbed me by my vest bands.

"They're Legion, they deserved it," I spoke simply.

"You made me miss it, man, this would have looked really cool." He sighed disappointed.

"Would it?" Willow looked over the body of Vulpes.

"No, it's why I didn't want you to follow me up here." I sighed, removing Niner's hand from my person.

I bent down to one of the Legionnaires and picked through his body, there was a cloth package on his person. Inside I found something quite strange, an antique flintlock pistol and a large bladed knife sat in the cloth package.

"Jackpot." I grinned holding up both weapons in my hands.

The knife was going to be useful, the pistol not so much. Eitherway they were still cool enough to keep on my person, unfortunatly. My side was beginning to hurt after being chewed up by Vulpes' mini chainsaw. Willow saw this first however.

"You're hurt!" She exclaimed.

"It's not my blood." I lied, adding the knife to my belt as well as the pistol.

Quickly, I added the revolver back in it's rightful place. However, the bleeding began to get worse, I couldn't return to my standing position, dizzyness hit me, I carerred into the floor head first, cracking me on the head.

"Jason!" Niner charged over to me and rolled me over.

I was definitely fucked, bleeding badly wasn't the way to go in the wastes, especially when you were the doctor. The first thing I lost was my hearing, Niner was shouting at deaf ears, darkness began to surround my vision.

"I'm sorry," I spoke before I blacked out.

I was reminded of the attack in Goodsprings, how I nearlly died if it weren't for the help of a doctor. Accepting death wasn't something on my list at the minute, I did my best to keep awake for what I could, but sleep was coming. I found myself in the clouds, standing on a puffy white pavement. White surrounded me, nothing around me as I stepped cautiosly on the unknown flooring beneath me.

"Oh, you're awake now." A suited man, eyes blue as the sky and a slightly scarred face was behind me.

"Wh-where am I?" I chose my words carefully.

He smiled, unable to answer.

"I suppose you've got a pretty good idea... That scar of your's looks sore." He commented.

My hand touched my face, it was bare, in fact, everything was bare.

"What?" I stuttered.

"Don't worry, here no-one see's you... You remind me of myself when I was your age, dumb but smart at the same time." The guy pulled out a pack of black cigarrettes and began smoking.

"Can you answer any question I ask?" I wondered, trying to get an idea of what was going on with me.

"Depends." The guy chuckled slightly as he walked close to me.

"Who are you?" I asked.

He took a second to answer.

"Can't tell you my name, I can tell you that I'm an ancestor of yours... Hm, I can also tell you you're special in a way that you might not understand... You've questioned your strength before right? How you could lift stone more than any man, take more damage, feel less pain? It's because it's inherant to our familly, to our race...  
I don't have much time, all I can tell you is to keep shaven and check your arms when you wake up." He explained but began to fade away at the end of his sentance.

Suddenly, darkness, it turned out that my eyes weren't closed, they were covered with a damp cloth. I took it off cautiosly and sat up. I was in a tent of somesort, shirtless and alone. I was also unarmed, not even the knife was availible. It was then I realised that I still had a push-dagger in my boot, unfortunatly that was taken as well. Annoyed and effectivly naked, I got up from the bed. Remembering the vision's words, I took a look at my arm, pulling my shirt away. There was something new on it, a red tattoo band had been marked into my skin. How it got there I had no idea, but that wasn't the biggest worry I had at the minute. My bandanna was gone, the scar exposed for all to see, which wasn't very many people seeing as I was alone in the tent. My gear was on the other side of the tent, I pulled myself over to the bag and dug through it quickly. Nothing, nothing that I needed at the moment, but I had pulled out the bandanna and wrapped it around my face.

Something was around me, a strange feeling of loneliness was surrounding me. Clothed, but unarmed, I opened the door to the tent, a stinging feeling in my side was worsening as I looked around the darkened street. I felt as if I was complelty alone, no-one around. A moonlit street freaked me out slightly as though I had been brought to another dimention by the suited ancestor, whatever he meant by 'keep shaven' I had no idea, but it didn't help.

"Where the fuck are you guys?" I shivered, the night air surrounding me in the cold.

I began to think that they'd robbed me, stolen everything and left me in a doctor's office, if you could call it that. All of a sudden, a pair of hands wrapped under my arms, a soft hug warmed me from behind, the person was pannicked and they'd ran to get to me. The blonde locks that blew forward with the wind told me that Willow was behind me.

"I'm sorry, we thought you'd stay put until morning!" She exclaimed.

I let out a sigh of releif, the sudden knowlege that I was no longer alone was enough to relieve me.

"I thought you left... Where are we?" I asked, thankful that she was still here for me.

Willow let go of me and turned me around.

"Novac... Niner carried you here, he had a hike and a half to get here. At least you're safe." She smiled at me, leading me away from the road and into what looked like the main area of the town.

"The doctor said you're lucky to be alive, those rippers cause some real damage... I hope you don't mind, but we had to use your caps to pay for the doctor and the room. Your gears in the place too." She explained the situation as we moved forwards.

I felt weak as I took some steps forward, my body wasn't in the correct condition to be moving around like this. My Pipboy was also missing, unable to check the time, I assumed Willow had taken it to check the time as she waited for me to heal up. Willow had to help direct me into a bungalow that she'd apparently rented.

The place was relativly clean, apart from Niner who was dressed down quite a bit, a steady rig in his hand. Solemly I shook my head as I realised that Niner was asleep from the chem.

"This doesn't bode well." I sighed looking at the slumped figure as Willow closed the door.

Niner woke up in a start. His eyes were red with what looked like tears, it was either that or the chemo.

"Wha-whe... Jason!" He stumbled over his words as he stood up from the couch and pretty much charge hugged me.

Something was wrong, Steady's name didn't connote that this would be the outcome of taking the substance. Niner lifted me off of my feet, not doing much for my wound.

"N-niner!" I gasped.

Realizing his mistake, he lowered me down to my feet, not letting go of the hug.

"Niner, he needs rest. Take it easy buddy." Willow calmed Niner, taking off her gecko jacket.

"Yeah... Yeah." Niner let go of me and sat back down.

I was lucky to be alive, but everyone was tired. No-one was going to be cheering here, but at least their minds would be put at ease knowing that I was alive. Willow came back, close to half naked, she wasn't going to be sleeping in all her armour after all, neither was Niner but he seemed to hate exposing his skin more than I did.

"Guys, I'm hittin' the hay. I'll see you in the morning." She yawned as she moved away from the part of the main room we were sat in.

"Night, Wills." Niner yawned too.

I realised that it was early morning, sleep was needed to survive the harshness of the wasteland. Not wanting to sleep alone, but not wanting to expose myself in front of everyone, I went into the back where there were some bunkbeds and a dresser. My guess was that before the war, Novac was a place where people would come to stay instead of staying in Vegas, with cars around, it wouldn't cost that much to get into Vegas. These beds where either for kids or multiple people to sleep in one place.

Sighing in discomfort, I took off my bag, shirt and boots then slid into bed then considered taking off my pants. Eventually, I lost it and went back to sleep, resting for the guaranteed long day ahead. My sleep was distubed by finding myself in the same sleep world I was in before, another strange looking individual was with me, he was wearing a doctor's coat. He had green eyes and medium length brown hair.

"I see my brother already met you. Don't worry yourself, I wont take long here. Just do me a favour. Don't worry about anything he tells you about children, you don't need to do anything you don't want to... Oh, the shaving thing! Do that, you'll know what he meant soon!" He rushed his speach

Back to darkness, which didn't last all that long as I was shaken awake by Willow who'd gotten into the room. She looked a little worried about me.

"Wha's goin' on?" I yawned and sat up from the bed.

My stomach was covered in dried blood, this wasn't very desirable as my slim figure was turned ugly with the blood on my stomach.

"It's morning, and you should get cleaned up." Willow gave me a hand up out of bed.

Having another dream like that was wired, especially seeing as it was a brother I'd seen in the vision. Whatever was going on with me, I wasn't exactly going to be telling Willow about the strangeness inside my head. Quickly and without much trouble, I went into the bathroom. It was clean enough, and luckilly the plumbing worked perfectly. Able to clean the blood off of my body and my actual body itself, I smiled, being able to clean some of the grime off of myself for once.

I unlaced my boots and put them near the sink and took off my underwear, got in the shower. The water turned on automaticly as I stepped into the shower, water hit my body and instantly began to move the blood that had dreid onto my body.

**Well, that's about as much as I can write at the minute. I decided that I should pick up the pace so that traveling wasn't as boring. Please review? It helps, really!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Right, starting this off again now.**

"Niner. Take. A. Shower." I sighed.

He seemed reluctant to get clean.

"Look, it's a long day ahead, I'll have a shower when we get back." He defended himself again.

I massaged the bridge of my nose before accepting that Niner wasn't one to like being clean. This wasn't going to be the last time I brought it up. Niner was going to be clean whether he likeed it or not.

"What do you mean long day?" Willow asked.

"I've got a delivery to go, it's easy, all I do is drop off the stuff and we'll be golden." Niner spoke as if this was going to be the easiest thing he'd ever done.

"What stuff? You aren't running drugs are you?" I didn't feel like going through the role of drug runner.

"Not running, a light jog at most man. Don't worry about it." Niner shrugged.

I began getting dressed in the main room, the other two turned their heads as I pulled on the jeans. When they turned, they began to see the tattoo on my bicep and the scars on my body, including the problem with the burn on my back.

"Moving then, we should drop 'em off to whoever you need to and quick, I don't want to happen apon an NCR patrol and have a bag full of psyco. Think about the fiends man, I don't want any of us being tied with them." I explained the reason behind my argument as I began to pull on my knee pads and boots.

"He's right Niner, when are you supposed to drop them off?" Willow was finished dressing and was ready to head out.

Niner looked defeated, he didn't seem to think about what was going on before he decided what to do.

"Fine, the guys should be here, I guess we can do it now." He sighed, picking up his bag.

I pulled on the shirt and kevlar vest, that was all I needed.

"Well, let's do it then. Get rid of this shit." I sighed getting up.

Willow went to the door.

"Willow, you should stay here, this shouldn't take long. If these guys turn out sour, then I need you with the rifle to help out here. Hardly a fight in an enclosed space." I suggested.

Willow thought about it for a minute then sighed.

"I can't, I wont know if they hurt you two or not." She looked down.

"Don't worry, if they walk out and we don't. Wait a minute and call for help." Niner sighed, pushing past her.

I gave Willow an apologetic look as I followed Niner outside the door. He seemed pissed, he waited until Willow closed the door before he grabbed my vest and dragged me to a wall.

"What's your problem man? This is my buisness." He growled angrilly at me.

I wrestled against Niner's grasp, to no avail. He was too strong to me.

"Niner, I don't want you getting involved with the wrong people. If you want to put Willow and me in danger for drugs, I aint letting it happen." I grabbed his wrist.

He pushed me further against the wall, his face close to mine. I could see the anger in his eyes fade as he looked into my scared ones, he knew what he was doing and let up, keeping a tight grasp of my vest.

"I'm sorry man." Finally, he let go.

"Forget about it, let's just drop this shit and go."

We walked in, only to find that the door was slammed shut and locked behind us. Several men surrounded us, many empty whiskey bottles all over the floor told me that these guys had been trying to find suppluments for their drugs, we seemed to be outnumbered 3 to 1. Not something I was happy about seeing as I'd left my pistol and revolver back at the bungalow.

"Shit."

Darkness, a baseball bat hit me in the back of my head.

**20 minutes later **  
**Niner**

They left finally, leaving me and Jason in the room alone, he had been dragged away by the goons, he'd been left in the bathroom. Hadn't made a sound since he was hit in the back of the head.

"Jason?" I called groggily, my body wasn't in the mood.

Nothing.

I tried to get up and open the door, finally I straightened up and cracked my neck. Pulling myself over to the bathroom, the door opened with a faint creak. Jason was flat out on the ground. His bandanna had been moved up over his eyes, he was unable to see me, if he were even awake or in fact alive.

I fell to my knees, trying to get him to wake up.

"Jason." I tried again, shaking him to wake him up.

He couldn't. He wouldn't.

My eyes were fixed on the great scar on Jason's cheek, his mouth was split and held together by only a few stiches. I tried lightly slapping his face to no avail, suddenly the door opened.

"Niner, Jason?" Willow called through the room.

In my distraction, I let my guard down, Jason grabbed me by the throat. He was tight, choking me of breath I had.

"Ni-ner." He growled.

He pulled me toward him but threw me off a second later. I landed back in the main room, Jason growled, pulling himself to his feet from the blood stained bathroom floor. He walked over in a slow, weak fashion.

"You. Stupid. Fuck." He growled at me.

"Do you think I wanted this?" I tried.

Jason reached up to his face then pulled his bandanna down over his face again, allowing him to see again and hiding his scar.

"Look at what they did to my eye... You've seen my face, I'm already fuck ugly, this is the last thing I need." He seemed less angry but still pissed enough.

"No, you're not. I saw your face too, you're not ugly, you're far from it." Willow surprised Jason.

He froze, not really know what he was going to do. He couldn't be angry to Willow, angered, he walked out of the room, out into the daylight outside. Willow walked over to me and helped me to my feet.

"What happened?" She was pissed with me.

"The deal went wrong, they took the drugs and the caps. Nothing we could do." I defended myself.

Willow looked as if she wanted to gut me for what happened in the room, but she decided that the junkies had already done their worst to me.

"At least the drugs are gone, I really don't care anymore. Let's find Jason, he can't be too happy."

**Jason**

I got to the road of Novac and started pacing, in rage, I punched the wall close to me. I found I cracked the concrete, something I never thought I could do. Calming down, I reached into my shirt and found what was left of the cigar and lit a match. The nicotine rush began, calming me down. However the taste wasn't something to be desired, I threw it away, knowing full well what the damage that nicotine could cause.

"Jason, please calm down." Willow rushed over to me, I held my hand up, telling her to stop.

"Just give me a second, I really don't want to kill him right now... It was my fault anyway, I should have been packing." I calmed down finally realising that it was partly my fault.

Having a gun on me at all times was going to be a neccesity now, if I couldn't trust people I was traveling with then I couldn't trust people they knew. My gun was becoming the only one I could trust.

"Why are you still hiding your face? I've seen it, you're not ugly." Willow took a few steps forward to me.

I shook, my hand falling to my side, my rage had turned into fear. Niner knew my face now, Willow didn't, I wanted to keep her away from the uglyness behind the cloth.

"Willow..." I stuttered.

She was within a few feet of me, she was going to take my bandanna and I could do nothing about it but do it myself. My hand twitched for the cloth.

"Listen, you don't need to hide anymore." She got too close to me.

I stepped back, but my wounded leg gave out under me. I fell to the ground, causing my leg to start bleeding again. In false rage, I yanked the bandanna down, showing Willow the scar on my mouth.

"Look at me, look at this fucking thing!" I shouted, scrambling to my feet, trying to keep Willow away.

She was shocked, the deep scar had not healed at all. She had seen me as I was, a monster, a scarred corpse.

"I should be _dead._ Shouldn't be _alive. _That guy tried to kill me for a reason." I stuttered under my breath, having to hobble back.

Willow was too quick though, she was able to get to me before I fell again. Gently she put her hands on my shoulders, making me flinch in fear, not wanting to hurt her.

"No, you shouldn't and you should never hide your scars." She moved her hands towards the knot of the bandanna.

"They make you who you are." She removed the bandanna from me and pulled me towards her, into a small hug.

I didn't return the hug, I didn't know what to feel. To know that someone didn't care about the scar was one thing, having someone help me when I felt like killing again was another.

She pushed me back a little and began to talk again.

"How's your eye?" She asked.

"...It hurts." I answered truthfully, the swollen eye socket was making it hard to see.

With some thought and kindness. She folded the bandanna up and used it as an eye patch for me, she tied it tightly. I could see properly again now, however it seemed as though something had gone terribly wrong, that I'd caused something bad.

"Thanks... Willow, I-" I began but she stopped me.

"Don't bother Jason. I know it doesn't make up for what happened, but going on your own won't help you." Willow seemed able to read my mind.

"The only thing I've done since I got dug out of that grave is murder people because of what they did to me in the past. I don't want that to get to people I care about, to where poeple will have scars like this or worse." I explained my reason.

Leaving Willow and Niner here in Vegas would have kept them safe from me, my rage. However it seemed unlikely that either person would stick together too long without me and find their own sticky end at the end of the road.

"You don't need to worry about that, Niner and I can look after ourselves. We can look out for you too if you look out for us. I mean, look at all the good you've done, you fixed my leg without even asking for pay and even helped me up to the Mojave outpost. You're not bad news Jason." Willow was definitally a smooth talker, it was refreshing to hear someone talk about me in a posotive fashion about something other than my physical labour.

"Speaking of which, how is it?" I asked, finally calming down.

Willow looked down at her bandaged leg, it seemed as though she thought that something was wrong with it.

"It twinges a little, but it's fine." She smiled at me.

Niner's fuck up end up being forgiven, however, I still had my doubts.

My gear was as I'd left it, in the room and still loaded. Before long I was wearing the vest, bag, rifle and pistol. I needed to find the people who'd kicked the shit out of us and put some 308 into their skulls. It wasn't a long while to wait for the sun to get to the hottest point, meaning that we weren't going anywhere, if we were going to move today, it would have to be at night.

We sat in what seemed like tense silence until Niner decided he would try and say something stupid.

"We should get the drugs back; my boss's want 'em." He spoke.

"No. You've nearly gotten us killed once Niner, I'm not willing to take a dirt nap so I can stay hooked on adrenaline and drugs." I sighed bitterly.

I'd been polishing the bolt on my rifle for a while now and sunset was just around the corner.

"Jason, holding a grudge like this won't help us. So it happened, let's move on." Willow tried to calm me down.

With further, I slammed the bolt back into its carrier, loaded the magazine and kept the chamber empty.

"I agree, but we have to be careful, we can't do this again." I sighed as I began to start cleaning the revolver.

"Look, man, it's all I know how to do. What else can we do for cash?" Niner got up and looked out the window.

Carefully, I set the gun down and got up too.

"Anything else Niner, these drugs aren't worth the risk." I sighed

Niner looked around, tapping his hand on his knee. He was waiting for an answer.

"What did you do for money Jason?" Willow asked.

The truth was that I never really had money to use, I certainly wasn't going to be being a courier again, it wasn't a good idea to offer labour as work.

"Bounty hunting, it's good money if you're willing to work for the NCR,"I explained.

Niner cracked up laughing, he didn't like the NCR, which was obvious, he was something of a rebel against the NCR, no matter how much they did for us.

"You think, I'm going to work for those bastards after what they put my brother through?" He looked at me with some strange look in his eyes, something I hadn't seen before.

"He was a solider right? Soliders die Niner, your brother had a choice, he chose to be a solider. You've seen the wastes, he made a sacrifice. His life for everyone else." I began.

"You believe that bullshit?" Niner stood up.

I stood up too, ready to defend myself should I need to.

"No, I know that bullshit isn't bullshit! It's truth, when I was being trained to stop poeple dying. NCR were protecting us from Raiders! They sacrificed themselves so the kids and the wounded could live!" I knew that Niner hated the NCR, but it wasn't something to try and attack me over.

"Both of you, shut up!" Willow stood up.

Instantly, Niner and I stopped arguing.

"You two are at each other's throats over what? What the NCR really stands for? What did we get together for anyway? Someone tell me!" She shouted at the two of us.

I felt ashamed, this was something I needed to do myself.

"I wanted to protect him... He couldn't survive on his own." Niner looked at me still. Some rage had left in his eyes.

Niner was embarrrased to admit it, but he knew deep down I could take care of myself. However, if he hadn't been there, I'd have died in Nipton. Finally I realised that there was something wrong with me, that I couldn't accept the truth.

"Jason, what about you?" Willow looked at me.

"I couldn't take care of myself on the road... I need people who know what to do when I don't." I admitted.

Both Niner and Willow looked at me strangely, they knew that I didn't like the reality of the situation.

"It's strange man. You don't-" Niner began.

"Look, you've already seen what happened to me in Nipton. I don't want the same to happen to you, either of you!" My hands clenched into fists.

Upset wasn't the word, if Niner had died I wouldn't have known what to do. The same would be said for Willow. I figured they'd know what to do should I die, but that was just me being me.

"Kid, I wouldn't leave your side if you hated me or I hated you. You just... I dunno man, look like you need help. You said it yourself." Niner began to see the pain in my eyes, I was thinking of wearing goggles just to shield them from others.

Willow also realized the hurt I was feeling.

"I'm sorry Niner." I sighed.

I closed my eyes to stop the tears from rolling down my face, it only made things worse though. Both adults could now see the real pain, what I was feeling inside. A pair of large muscled arms wrapped around me, pulling me into a kevlar vest. Niner was comforting me, allowing me to be somewhat...

Myself.

"It's alright' come on, calm down." He rubbed my back.

A gentle hand fell on my shoulder too, squeezing it gently. It was enough to know that I had people around me who actually cared for me rather than just being a friend on face value. I had people who cared enough to go this far for me.

My hands stayed at my sides, I had to be strong. Calming down took less than a minute, I'd gotten used to being able to hide my emotions. I pushed back from Niner a little bit, got away from him so that I could breath.

"We should go, to Freeside."


	4. Chapter 4

**Fallout C4**  
**I just want to say thank you to everyone who has written reviews and liked this story, I nearly cried reading you guy's feedback.**

**Pacer's P.O.V**

I moseyed around Freeside for a good while, what the Kid had done a few years back had gone. The junkies were back, NCR squatters still taking up freeside and the follower's still doing their best. Either way, the story of the kid was passed around and we were still waiting for him to come back, we needed him back.

"Pace, there's something going on at the front gate." A lil' king ran up to me.

Lil' kings were kids we took off the street, keeping them away from the jet fiends around. I followed him to the front gate, there they were. 2 guys and a girl, none of them looked as if they belonged here. I walked up to them, about to ask where they'd come from, however my hand stayed on my pistol.

"You look familiar." I looked carefully at the shortest guy, his eyes reminded me of someone.

He stared at me for a second, before he retrieved something inside his jacket.

"You're Pacer right?" He spoke gruffly.

He opened his hand, a silver lighter in his hand, the one that I gave to the kid when he left town.

"Kid?" I figured it out, they both had the same bright blue eyes.

He shook his head solemnly and put the lighter in his jacket again.

"Dead... I need to talk to the king and inform him myself." He kept his eyes on me.

It didn't make any sense, the kid had walked to Primm with the NCR. Anyone who could have survived that could have survived anything, there was something else bugging me though, the bandanna around his face.

"Who were you to Kid?" I needed to know where this guy came from before the king saw him at least.

"We came from the same slave camp. NCR split us up, I found him in GoodSprings, shot in the head." He explained, showing some sadness as he explained the relation he had to the kid.

I didn't bother asking about the other 2 that came with him. I left them to go to the school, left them to talk to the king whilst I got over the news. Whoever the guy was who shot the Kid was, I knew he was going to pay. That guy had a look in his eyes, like he'd seen men die in violent ways. I hoped he put the pain on the murderer, just to pay back the life. Not the greif.

**The King's P.O.V**

Rex was enjoying a good stroke, what the Kid had done for him was a miracle, where-ever the Kid was now. I hoped he was safe, this train of thought was broken when a shadow stood next to my table. The kings around me all visbely tensed up.

"I have bad news for you King." He stood over me.

I noticed his hand was open, the silver lighter Pace had given to the Kid was placed on my table. Instantly I knew what happened, grief struck me, Rex whimpered.

"Kid was shot in the head in Goodsprings. He was robbed on a courier job, I've tracked the killer to Vegas. He will suffer for this." He explained as he stepped back from the table.

"Hold on now. Who the hell are you?" I stood up.

Instantly, all the Kings were stood. Guns drawn, aimed at the head of this guy who just walked into the school. Bold as could be. Yet, he didn't react, his eyes were still fixed on me.

"Jason, now. You can all shoot me if you want, but Alex will go unavenged." His eyes were still fixed on me.

It was like he wasn't scared of death, he didn't care about the Kings. I lifted a hand, the kings put their guns away. It wasn't as if the guy blinked, he did nothing except wait.

"Where is he? The killer." I grabbed the guy's jacket, now I saw fear. He knew that if he killed me the entire of Freeside was going to try and kill him.

"Vegas, and I'm going to be the one." His eyes opened wide as he pulled his head toward mine.

Seeing the emotion in his eyes, the determination and the fear told me everything that I needed to know. He was a killer, not what the Kid was. However, there was something that irked me.

"Alex?" I let go of him.

"Kid's name. He never told anyone 'cause he forgot." The guy still looked directly into my eyes.

I had nothing left to say, the guy was about to walk out.

"Jason," I spoke.

He turned as I tossed the lighter his direction. He caught the lighter like it was no problem at all.

**Willow's P.O.V**

Niner had wandered off into the Atomic Wrangler, knowing that Jason had grown up here was difficult. The amount of people who had come up to me asking if I was selling Jet was astronomical. I was relieved that Jason came out of the building faster than I thought he would have done.

"That was depressing." He sighed, pocketing the lighter he used to get Pacer away from us.

"Do they know, that you're who you were?" I wondered if this was the right thing to do.

Jason sighed and rubbed his forehead, I'd been bugging him about this for a while now. It was something that I needed to know about, holding out on me wasn't going to help him in anyway possible.

"Listen Willow, I wont tell you again. Who I was before is dead. Dead. Not coming back. Non-existant. Erased from existance. Lost but not forgotten, understand?" He was annoyed with me to say the least.

"Ok, I'm just saying this feels wrong." I began.

Jason froze, stood in place, his eyes not meeting mine.

"What's wrong in this world Willow? Fucking everything, that's what! This is my problem, not your, you wont be effected by this because you never knew me before Kid died!" He turned finally.

Beyond the anger in his eyes, I could see the hurt. Deep down he knew something about this was wrong, this strange feature about Jason's personality was something I'd never learned to understand.

"I'm sorry." He sighed.

He turned his head and shook it, he realised that getting angry with me questioning him wasn't the best way forward. Anyone else, and I would have walked away, even if they'd gotten my stuff back.

"Don't worry about it." I smiled patting him on the shoulder.

It was then we saw the two white coats carrying a stretcher into the Atomic Wrangler. Both Jason and I knew exactly what was going on.

**The fort, 2 hours later.**

I'd fixed up what had happened at the Wrangler. Niner had done a bit of damage to the place, nothing that a little Abraxo cleaner couldn't help. Soon I found myself stood outside the fort's doors, the place I'd stayed the most as the Kid. This would be the worst part of the visit to Freeside, facing Jullie again would be hard.

With Willow stood next to me, I found hope that the bandanna would be enough to hide my face, even though the swelling around my eye had died down close to nothing. Which was the correct thing to do, seeing as Jullie walked up to us none-the-wiser.

"Listen, if you need medical attention you're going to need to wait." She spoke clearly, she cleary was annoyed with the state that Niner had found himself in.

"You're Jullie right?" I began, starting my speech even though I was certain that she would somehow be able to see through the bandanna and the scar to see the Kid standing in the courtyard again.

"Yes, why what do you need?" Her face turned concerned, she suspected something already.

"I uh, you're a friend of Kid right?" I began.

"Kid's gone, I don't know what you want with him but he isn't here. Now, unless you have buisness here, I suggest you leave." She turned her back on me.

"I buried him... Did that get your attention? Kid's dead, I'm informing his previous associates from his journel." I lied about the journel, it was better than nothing.

Jullie froze, she turned to me, hurt filling her eyes. However, I could see from here that the emotion wouldn't last for long. It was good, this meant that there wouldn't be any tears shed over a life that hadn't ended. It also meant that it would be easier to get her to let me help with Niner.

"How did he die? I need to know." She demanded.

"Executed on the way to Vegas, he was running a courier job. So I tracked the killer to Vegas, you don't need to worry about revenge." I gave her the answer I gave to everyone.

She showed strength as we talked about Kid, or me. It made me think as to whether or not I was the Kid or not anymore. Knowing that my life up to this point was that of the Kid, but now I was Jason, the gunslinger avenger wading through the wasteland laying waste to those who opposed his need for revenge. Whether I liked it or not, I realised that I was a killer, but I could still help people.

"My friend, the addict. He needs help, badly. If you don't mind, I'd like to tend to him myself." I asked Julie respectively.

"Oh, right. He's in that tent over there. Help yourself." Julie realised something, that I had changed slightly and was acting more like the kid now.

Here's the thing, I knew that Julie figured me for the Kid. However, I got to the tent with Niner lying down in it, quickly I set my pack down as Willow had already found the tent as I talked with Julie.

"His vest took most of the damage, I don't know why he isn't waking up." She showed me the vest, however, I was more concerned with Niner.

His breathing was normal, but ragged due to the inflammation caused by his drug usage. His pulse was slightly irregular, making me feel concerned for him. I realised that his drinking was worse than his drug use. What I had in store for him was something that he would probably try and kill me for, but it was worth the risk if I could get Niner off of the drugs.

Quickly, I took the bag of drugs and took it to Julie. She let me use her laboratory, allowing me to create a powerful detox for Niner. Instant cold-turkey I called it, I had no choice but to 'borrow' one of the syringes lying around to administer the detox to Niner. If it didn't wake him up, it would be an extremely powerful fix, enough to get him off of the drugs for good.

"You have skill." A hooded man entered the tent behind me.

"If you don't mind, we'd like to be left alone with our friend." Willow sighed as she watched Niner's body twitched.

The man did not listen to Willow, instead he decided to kneel down to me. He looked down, deep into my eyes. It was then I realised that this man was surving slave from the Legion camp I was born in. With my bandanna still in place, there wasn't much of a chance of him making me for the Kid.

"You remember the camp well then? I can see it in your eyes, it still haunts you to this day." He pressed, lowering his voice so that no-one could hear us.

Shocked, I pressed for answers.

"Who are you?" I tried.

"I am known as Seeker, my friends and I are looking for someone who was a Slave along side us. I want to take him to his family." Seeker explained.

"What if this person has a new family?" Willow asked.

"There is no stronger bond than blood." Seeker answered ignorantly.

I couldn't lie to him, yet I gave it a shot.

"I think the person you're looking for is dead. My brother had a legion burn on his back, I buried him a few days ago. It's in Goodsprings if you want to take a look." I had to get him away from me as soon as possible, or let everyone know that Kid was back on the block.

"Dead... I see. Your family adopted him?" He was twigging on, there was only one thing for it.

"I considered him my brother, we were good friends," I explained.

Seeker was looking deep into my eyes at this point, until he sighed and reached inside his coat. Instantly my hand went for the revolver, but I let go as soon as I saw what Seeker was producing from his coat. Something small dangling from a chain, it looked like a large coin until I realised what it was. It was the Slave trainer's medallion. Now I found myself looking at the damned thing deep in shock, Seeker had found his mark.

"I understand now... Alright, I will leave you alone now. Hopefully your friend will get better." He smiled as he stood up and walked out of the tent.

Rage and fear struck me, slaves from the camp had come to find Kid. Yet once they'd found me they left me alone, it didn't make sense in the slightest. However, this train of thought was disrupted when Niner began to cough badly. Carefully, I placed him on his side and kept him there. Lowering the chance of him dying. Finally, I decided to rest, after all it wasn't going to be long until we needed to leave, lest the guy who tried to kill me disappear over night.

**Niner's P.O.V**

I woke up in a tent, a raging head ache and something else going on that wouldn't sound too well if I spoke about it out loud. Looking around hurt, that suit knew how to fight, I'll give him that, even if he got a cheap shot in.

"Well Niner, you managed it again didn't you?" Jason came into view, he hovered over me. The bandanna off of his face.

It was a crooked smile he gave me, but he couldn't really help that.

"Am I good?" I asked dumbly.

"Could be worse, you could look like me. You should be gratefull James doesn't carry a knife." He sighed, dabbing at my eye with a damp cloth.

This whole thing was caused by this guy, James. He was trying to sell me something, couldn't quite remember whatever it was.

"I've got to tell you something. All your chems are gone Niner, I didn't have the money to pay for the damages you caused in there, you should be gratefull the followers are here. This should help." He took the cloth off of my head.

When he helped me up into a sitting position, I saw what he had in the bag. Fixer, my worst nightmare.

"No man, I can't do that." I stuttered, looking at the dreaded detox in the bag.

Jason chuckled and stood up, it was then I noticed the dark coat he was wearing was missing and was instead replaced with a normal sized jacket. His dark jeans were now a light blue. His leather boots were replaced with sneakers like mine.

"What happened to your outfit?" I asked, confused.

Jason blushed, he'd done something to need new clothes.

"I sold 'em. I lost all my caps in Novac... Do you know how long you've been out?" Jason changed the subject.

"What?" I pulled myself to my feet,

"2 days, the detox took all your energy away. You shouldn't need any more chems for a while." He explained breifly.

I noticed that I did feel a little better, the ragging in my throat was gone which was a blessing in itself, in a way Jason did me a favour with the fixer. Now all I had to do was stay away from the chems, I left that for Willow and Jason to take care of.

"Hey kid, dreaming about Vegas yet? All the Women and all the Men you could ask for huh?" I joked with him.

The concept of sex was something that Jason didn't understand, not too well anyway. I guessed that he'd never had anyone to talk to him about it. I gave him a breif explination of what it was, leaving out the skeptical scientific stuff I didn't understand, when it came to a certain point, a look of realisation came over him.

"That's what they did to me!" He called out.

"What?" I was confused.

"The Legion, in the camp. It wasn't like you explained it, though, it hurt like hell each time." He explained to me.

That's when I realised he didn't understand the concept of rape either, I soon figured that no-one decided to teach him about the things that had happened to him. His past was fuzzy to me, I didn't quite know who to be pissed at.

"Look kid, sex and what happened to you in that camp are two different things." I did my best to explain some of the things that had happened to him.

Willow suddenly put her blonde head through the door to check on me, finding me stood on my feet she came into the tent fully.

"Well look who's up, it's about time." She sighed as she came into the room.

"You can't blame him, the detox took too much energy out of him." Jason defended me for whatever reason he needed.

After a while of getting used to being on my feet again. I decided to go outside into the bright sun, or at least the bright sun that was rising. It looked as if there was something wrong there, there were more people around here then there were in the actuall town than I thought there would be.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Freeside doesn't have that many places to sleep, the fort is the last place for some people. Most wont take their help." Jason explained.

"Who are those guys?" Willow pointed over to a crowd of people who were all dressed similarly.

"They're NCR, they were telling me that someone had started a fight in freeside. They kept the peace for a while. They held up here for the night just in case something kicks off again." Jason explained moving over to the door.

We followed him to the outside, the 3 securitrons that were guarding the door had been destroyed, the gate was now defended by NCR whilst there were some technition fixing the robots. What had happened was something that I really didn't understand. We neared the gate and instantly, a sense of overwealming anticipation washed over me, then I remembered something that was said by Jason to just give me the biggest downer I'd ever had in a while.

'I've got no caps Niner' was all I could hear.

"Hey, where do you think you're going Vegas is for adults." The guard spoke directly to Jason.

"Funny, I'm a courier. Here." Jason gave him a piece of paper.

Instantly the guard reversed his position and let us through but stopped Willow and me.

"Passport please." He drowned.

Jason's head turned, he looked pissed.

"Hey, Pvt Incompetence. They're my guards." He snapped at the guard.

Fear struck the guard, silently he let us past. And in a glorious moment of victory, we entered Vegas. Jason's first veiw of the strip must have been insane. However, when we entered the strip we saw a different veiw. Many of the securitron's were down, more technitions were fixing up the robots and more guards protected the gates.

"What in the hell is going on?" Willow asked.

"Legion sapper Ma'am, EMP struck out the securitrons. Not to worry, we're getting them up again soon." One NCR soldier explained.

I could see the darkness in Jason's eyes, the Legion had ruined another part of his life without even trying to. I could see true hatred in his eyes for the legion, something I'd never seen before.

"He's in McCarren now right?" He asked.

"Yes sir, he's under questioning now." A less incompetent soldier spoke to him.

Jason sighed heavily.

"I swear, I'm gonna nail Ceaser to the cross myself one day." His hand reached around himself.

He rubbed his back, something was wrong.

"Hey, that's for gettin' to. What are we going to do whilst we're here?" I tried to brighten the mood of the others as we walked further up the strip.

"There's something I need to do, I've got to find that rat before he does something like this again. Now... Smirks, over-confidence..." Jason surveyed the strip looking around trying to find someone who would know who had tried to kill him.

His eyes seemed to lock onto a man surrounded by others. A daisy suit graced him as he swaggered into the Tops casino.

"That's him." The lighter side Jason had showed since he shed his coat had vanished, he seemed to feel more hatred than he ever did before. I began to see the rage inside come out slightly.

"Jason, think about this a little. We can't just walk up there and execute him." Willow made a good point.

"I know that, but I can. You two need to find someplace safe to stay... If all goes well, we should meet somewhere. I know it sounds bleak, but if it goes wrong I don't think I'll be making it out of there. If, _if _that happens, I'm taking that prick with me. You two don't need to do anything with my body or anything. But that's if it goes wrong." Jason turned to us.

What he said shook me slightly, he knew there was a chance he would die. However, it was like he didn't want to be remembered. I finally understood that what was going through Jason's head. He died once already, dying again didn't seem that phasing to him.

"Hopefully that doesn't happen." Willow put a hand on Jason's head and ruffled his hair lightly.

Jason did something then, with some speed and force, he pulled all 3 of us into a hug. He let go once he realized that I was uncomfortable.

"I love you guys. See you in an hour." He began to walk off towards the Tops, I knew that somehow, he'd live through this.

"Kid, find us in Gomorrah!" I called. Jason heard me, everyone could hear the crack in my voice.

Willow looked to me, I looked to her. This was the first time I'd been this close to a fine woman like her, whilst clean at least. Gomorrah seemed to be the best place for us all to go, especially to get Jason started and to unwind in a hot mess. I lead Willow to Gomorrah who instantly made the dancers outside.

"Why here Niner?" She asked.

"You'll see soon."


	5. Chapter 5

Fallout C5

**Jason**

It seemed too quiet as I walked into the casino, what I expected to be a bustling area for everyone to be talking and drinking in was actually a large area filled with gambling tables and less people. It seemed pretty strange, so I went to the front desk.

"Umm, listen kid. You ain't allowed in here." The guy spoke.

"I'm older than I look." I smiled through the bandanna.

"Yeah well, I'll let Benny be the judge of that." He frowned as he produced a box for me to place my weapons.

"Come on kid, I'm having a bad enough day as is." He sighed.

"It's about to get worse. Was your boss the one in the suit? Guess what the fucker did to me." I lead on.

I could see the twitch in the guy's hand, he thought I was going to draw. So I put my hands on the desk and looked into his eyes, much like I did with the King. Quickly, I removed the bandanna, he looked at the scar in disgust, he knew it was wrong, what Benny did.

"The boss man did that?" He wouldn't look me in the eyes, so I pulled the bandanna back up to my mouth.

"Yes. All for a package, I was supposed to deliver to Mr. House. So, I need you to do me a massive favor. Let me go up to his room and let me take my stuff back and leave a little thing for him to remember me by." I smiled at the suit, hopefully, I wouldn't have to shoot my way up there.

"So... Benny just tried to screw over Mr house? Damn... Alright, I'll get the guards away from him. Try and be quick, if it's gotta be done..." The guy lets me go up the stairs, allowing me to finally get to the guy. But I gave it time.

**5 minutes later.**

Once I was sure no-one was inside apart from Benny, I pulled out the large bowie knife. Then knocked on the door.

_Thump_

My heart stopped slightly, I only had one chance at this. I took a few steps away from the front of the door, giving me room to charge in.

_Click_

The door clicked, unlocking I thought. Quickly, I charged into the door, throwing it open. My body landed on the guy, sending him flying into his room. Grabbing his neck, and placing the blade against his throat seemed to be enough to shut him up and stop him from struggling.

"Remember me fucker? Huh?" I grinned.

His wide eyes seemed to tell me that 'yes' was his answer. I pulled the bandanna down to make sure he really knew how fucked he was now. When he saw the scar, he realized for the fact that he was going to die, horribly.

"Look, it was just buis-" He began, so I placed the blade in his mouth, silencing him instantly.

"Business doesn't warrant killing a Kid, which you almost did by the way. So, eye for an eye." I growled.

"No, no, no! Please! I can make this right!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.

My grip tightened, yet I took the blade away from his neck slightly. Letting him speak for a few seconds, I wanted him to speak his last. Not that anything he said would stop me from doing to him what he did to me.

"I can help you kid, listen... All of this, Vegas, it can be ours. Think of it, all the money and power you could ever want." He tried.

I shook my head.

"That won't bring back the side of me you killed. Nor does it satisfy my rage." I laughed and dug the blade into his neck again.

"Guns! Women! Fame! Please, kid, don't kill me." He was on the verge of sobbing.

I sliced his mouth wide open, to which he began screaming in agony.

"FUCK!" He gargled on his own blood.

Figuring out the worst way to kill him was to let him drown in his own blood. I held him down, stopping him from moving and spitting out the blood. Blood began to spurt out everywhere, staining my new shirt. I loved watching him die, the fear and pain in his eyes as he finally stopped moving and slowly died.

I gave it a minute before I got up. There was one more thing that needed to be done, I looked through my bag, retrieving that flintlock I found on Vulpus. Carefully, I cocked it and put the one round in Benny's head, making sure he was dead. Benny was busted, so I dropped the buster next to him as I looked through his now bloodied clothes. Finding the chip, I left the flintlock behind, what Benny should have done with me.

With the chip now in my possession, I exited the Casino and ssavoredthe slightly irradiated air. It was strange, the air seemed thick with death. I thought it was the blood that I might have swallowed.

"The mighty Ceaser casts his eyes on who and delivers the mark of Ceaser unto you. All crimes against the Legion will be forgiven." A suited man walked up to me and handed me a small bull on a piece of string. The mark of Ceaser.

"You're a part of Ceaser's Legion?" I asked, my hand going for my gun.

"Yes I-" He began, but the barrel of my peacemaker was jammed in his mouth.

"See you in hell, scum." I pulled the trigger.

Pieces of brain covered the strip, there was more fresh blood on my new clothes. I decided it was time to collect my payment.

**Niner.**

A couple of distant gunshots told me that Jason was doing what he did best.

"Do you think he's allright?" I turned my head to Willow who was busy eating at the bar.

"He should be fine, I don't know what he could be doing now. We have to trust him though, he told us what to do if all goes wrong. I tell you Niner, I don't think I've ever seen anyone so... Vengeful. You saw him in Nipton, what he did to that dog guy. I wonder what he did to this one." She spoke thoughtfully.

"Hopefully he cut him up good. Poor kid doesn't want to let anyone see the scar, pretty sure that guy deserves whatever happens." I spoke into my whiskey.

It was a while before Jason walked into the bar, he noticed the dancers before he noticed us. Eventually after taking in the sights of the bar, he walked to us and pulled up a chair with us. He put a large sack of caps on the table, as he leaned back into the chair, he began to chuckle slightly.

"What's wrong?" I noticed the chest of his shirt was covered in blood.

"It didn't go the way I expected, I wanted to cut him and take the chip... I ended up drowing him in his own blood." He looked as if he'd hit something strong.

"What's wrong with that? He might have done that anyway." Willow put her fork down.

"Because I shot him in the head with the flintlock after... Then when I walked out of the casino, I shot a Legion ambassador in the throat because he gave me the mark of Ceaser." He leaned into his hand.

"No Legion allowed, no-one will be after you. So, don't worry about it. Unwind kid." I passed him a bottle of Whiskey.

Jason looked at the bottle carefully, suddenly he drank deeply. Instantly I began to see the stress and pressure wash away. He placed the bottle back on the table before he leaned back into the chair again.

"Yeah well... I still feel like shit. I mean it's like they say. 'An eye for and eye leaves everyone blind' but then again I'm alive so I guess I took more than a bit of skin." He seemed so depressed.

"Jason, please forget about it. You won, you got the guy who killed your brother and the guy who held both of you in that Legion camp. You won, so unwind." Willow spoke up.

Jason smiled, took another drink and tilted the bottle to Willow whilst looking at me.

"See, she gets the idea. You calling me 'kid' is just making me remember that 'this' " He pointed at himself.

"Is just a fake, a facade. Once everyone stops talking about the Kid, I can unwind and relax... Which reminds me, we had the entire strip to go in and you chose the strip club, why?" He put the bottle on the bar, he was far from drunk but he was definitely feeling the effects of the alcohol.

I began to chukcle, so did Willow, I discussed this with Willow before Jason got back, she agreed once I'd explained the plan.

"You don't know what you like right? Men or women. Here you can try out both. Hold up." My eyes picked up a nearby dancer walking through.

I whistled at him, instantly he walked over, a typical stripper walk and the slutty outfit to back it up.

**One hour later**

Whilst Jason was having his _moment _Willow and I decided that we would do the same, after all it wasn't as if I had eyes on anyone else. With the drugs gone, I was able to lul Willow into my arms in our room. It took a while, but finally we did it, had the night of our lives.

Well, afternoon.

She finally fell back on the bed, her breathing eratic, her naked body covered in sweat. Smiling, I climbed into bed with her, pulling her into a gentle hug. She seemed very tired because as soon as I pulled her into my arms, she fell asleep. I decided that it was time I hit the hay too. Slowly, I closed my eyes. Falling into a deep sleep, I began to think of Jason, wondering where he might be and what he might be doing.

**Jason**

"Fuuuuuuu-" I began, but the dancer -now dubbed master- covered my mouth as I climaxed from the vibrations.

Even as I fell against the cushions in the room, the vibrations continued, milking everything I had. Master kept the vibes going for another full minute before he pulled the plugs out of me.

"Fu- Fuck" I caught my breath. What little of it I could.

"Hold still, let me get you out of that binder." Master spoke as he sat me up.

With the key he wore around his neck, he unlocked the armbinder and let me use my new found sense of touch to rub my body. I was shaking, the orgasm still striking me with pulses.

"Feels good right? It should wear off after a couple of hours, thanks to that pill." Master rubbed my arm for me, comforting me as the intense feeling remained.

"H-hours!?" I shuddered, still not feeling any kind of wearing effect.

Master nodded and covered me with a sheet to sleep in, however I couldn't sleep, not with the feeling of fullness in my stomach and... Other areas.

**1 whole hour later**

I felt myself being shook awake, the twitching had worn off faster than I thought it would have. Waking up was awful, sticky and still leaking. Opening my eyes, I found Niner stood over me.

"Hey buddy, you good?" He asked.

I nodded, feeling better knowing I was in safe hands again.

"Did you enjoy it?" He asked.

"Yeah... I suppose a girl could have done this stuff too, but they can't do the-" I began but was cut off.

"Ah, I get it. So you don't care who?" Niner figured out what I was slightly complicating.

Niner had to help me sit up, he gave me some water. Thankfully clean water, it cleared my foggy head rather quickly. However, instantly I realised I was still naked in public. Quickly I covered myself with the sheet so that Niner couldn't see the leaking but he could see the blushing in my cheeks.

"Wh-where's Willow?" I had to ask, just to change the subject.

"She's asleep, that dancer told me about your clothes so he gave me the caps to buy you a new outfit. Said you were 'the best one yet' and that it was 'the least he could do to make up for th-" He began but this time I cut him off.

"I get it... Can you help me up? I need a shower, bad." I extended my hand.

Niner grabbed me and picked me up completely.

"Careful!" I realised that the sheet would fall off if I wasn't careful.

Niner chuckled as he carried me out of the room and into the corridor again, then he took me into the room he must have rented. Willow was definitally asleep, stark naked on the sheets.

"She got up to go to the bathroom, then collapsed on the bed again." Niner chuckled as he closed the door with his foot.

Gently, he set me down on my feet. Another spasm of orgasmic magic caused me to drop the sheet and collapse to my feet. Stark naked for Niner and Willow to see, if she woke due to the thud that was. As I franticly tried to cover myself again, Willow woke up with a start.

"Wha- Jason!" She too scrambled to cover herself.

Niner did absolute fuck all as he stood there laughing at us. I dragged myself to the bathroom to get cleaned up, which was going to be a difficult task.

**Willow**

After Jason was in the bathroom, I scowled at the still chuckling Niner. He seemed to find this situation hilarious.

"You brought him back here, while I was like this?" I threw the sheet at Niner, which didn't work seeing as I was still sat on it.

"Hey, give me some credit. At least I _tried _not to wake you." He defended himself.

He was lucky to have woken properly first, at least he was able to dress in something normal, both Jason and I were stuck in sheets until our heads cleared. Quickly, I pulled on my underwear and bra, I thought Niner had seen enough.

"Hey, it's still late. Go back to bed, we all need rest. I just decided to fetch him so that he wouldn't be sleeping where he was. Which was in public view mind you." Niner scolded me as he walked back to the bed and sat on my side.

The way he rubbed my arm so gently, I couldn't stay mad at him for long.

"You're sleeping in my bed tonight?" I asked.

"If you want Wills, besides. We're all tired." He smiled, gently rubbing my the small of my back.

Suddenly a thud from the bathroom told us we'd ought to check on Jason. I pulled myself up and knocked on the bathroom door before opening, Jason was tangled in his sheet. Gently, I helped him up from the floor and checked to make sure he was OK, he was fine but I noticed some horizontal red marks across his back. That dancer had certainly had some fun with him.

"Did you enjoy it?" I asked.

Jason was shaking rythmicaly, however I realised what it was. He was still experiencing orgasm, how this was possible I don't know. I did know that he wasn't really enjoying it, but wouldn't say anything against it.

"Ye-yeah." He moaned in suppressed pleasure.

"Do you need help?" I asked, it looked like he could use it.

"P-put me in the sh-shower." He reached out to the tub and tried to climb into it, but his knees were shaking. I gave him the shower head and left him to it, walking back into the room, I had to ask Niner something.

"Do you notice something different about him?" I asked, pointing my thumb over my back.

Niner rolled on his back and looked at me.

"Other than him being completely naked around us, no I don't." he yawned.

"No, have you noticed his skin? Didn't he have hair on his arms when he came to us?" Only now did I question the seemingly shining skin Jason now possessed.

Niner waited for me to get back in bed before he spoke again.

"I don't notice these things Wills. All I know is that I like the kid, I feel like I can trust him. I like you too Wills, in fact. I think I might just love you." He commented as he wrapped his arms around me.

Not feeling like explaining these things to Niner, I went to sleep again to the sound of gushing water in the bathroom.

**8 Hours later**

Sun shone through the window, waking Niner and I up. Where the guy hugging me seemed to be a deep sleeper before, he was now a early riser just like me. Jason's detox solution for Niner worked wonders, both of us realised that he wasn't around when we woke up. In a blind panic, I tried getting out of bed only to fall on the wooden floor. Suddenly someone at the end of the bed woke up with a start.

"Come and get me you fuck!" Jason shouted as he looked around.

He looked around francticly to see that it was me who caused the noise.

"Oh, ummm." Jason blushed.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" I joked as I pused myself to my feet.

He nodded as he got to his feet, it seemed as if the spasming he'd been suffering/enjoying the night before had faded away. Leaving him the Jason we had before the sex craze. It seemed awkward to say the least. He stretched his back, which seemed to have healed from the night before, several clicks told me that the floor wasn't a comfortable place to sleep for him.

"Oh man, who needs Steady?" Niner spoke to himself as he pulled himself out of bed.

Everyone seemed to be feeling headaches, which lasted until we all got dressed, apart from Jason who was sitting on the foot of the bed. Rubbing his arms and head. He was still without clothes and didn't seem to care that we could all see him exposed.

"Did you say I had new clothes Niner?" He turned to Niner who was fiddling with his laces.

"Oh, right. Here." Niner pulled a package from under the bed and gave it to him.

Jason opened the package to see some relatively fancy, but very tough looking clothes. Including his cowboy holster he always wore. Quickly, he pulled out the underwear first, which turned out to be a very small pair of red panties. He sighed and pulled them on, showing off his accents.

"Cute." I giggled.

Jason scowled as he pulled on the black slacks and belt, concealing the very cute underwear. Finally, he put on the white shirt and black waistcoat. Looking smart, kind of like and old west sheriff, all he needed now was his hat and his guns. However, Jason looked deep in thought as he pulled on his new boots.

"So... Did you two, you know." He chuckled slyly.

"Hey kid, we didn't ask too much about your night." Niner scolded him.

Jason took that as a yes, his chuckle revealed all. He knew that Niner and I were getting close, he didn't mind. I never thought Jason to be that attached to Niner, not in that way anyway, but his interest in the matter seemed...Misguided.

"You were safe though right? I don't really think that bringing up an infant when we're kinda out of work is a good idea." He stood up and straightened his clothes.

Niner blushed, he didn't remember too well.

"Yes Jason, we didn't do anything stupid. That does remind me though, we have a lotta caps. I don't think they'll last long though." I looked at the bag of caps next to the bed.

"My thoughts exactly, we need a permanent place. Then we can hunker down, sort things out. That's if you guys want to stay together, I don't mind really. I'm just saying, we can split this 3 ways. You guys helped me finish this job, you earned a share of it." Jason looked around at us all.

I honestly didn't know what to say.

**Coming to a close on this story. At least Jason's perspective of it, I may continue the story later on. Expect one more chapter for Jason's perspective.**


	6. Chapter 6

** Jason's ending - Narrated**

The youngest gunslinger to walk the wastes had a tough life to say the least, his ties with the Legion were cut as were those with Mr House. When the proposal of more work was given by Mr House, Jason refused and never entered the Lucky 38 again. In some people's eyes this was a huge mistake, Benny's promise of power and money could have been true. However, caps had never meant that much to Jason, all he cared about were the people around him, so long as he was safe, he was happy.

He could never be happy, though. Not until the scourge of the Mojave was wiped from the wasteland.

With the blood of Vulpus Inculta on his hands, along with the messenger's, the Legion placed a price on Jason's head. After the first assassin tried to end Willow's life, Jason remained with the group to protect her and Niner. A new rage burned within Jason, he suddenly became bloodthirsty, vowing never to stop until Cesar himself was dead.

Rage began to become the only emotion that Jason could feel, to know that there were people -an entire army- were trying to kill his friends and enslave everyone else hurt him deep, but it was the anger that kept him going.

Jason's anger and hatred for the Legion grew strong and the burning passion he had for killing Legionaries burned hotter still. Jason joined the fight as a volunteer for the NCR only to protect the Hoover dam, he was not done there. When the NCR decided to retreat and resupply at the dam, Jason snuck out of the dam and made his way to the fort.

One by one, the legion fell. A bloody bowie knife became the best.

Jason was now dubbed 'Deathclaw' due to the way he killed Legionaries with his blade. This technique continued as he snuck through the fort, killing Legion one by one. It was close, and it was time. Jason charged in through the tent to Cesar and plunged the blade into the monster's skull. He then proceeded to gun down the guards who had come to Cesar's aid.

By the time the NCR came to the fort, they found Jason resting in Cesar's throne, victory belonged to the NCR. When morning came, Jason freed the slaves, but was approached by a young boy and his younger sister. Jason had murdered their father out of hatred and vengeance, however they understood why Jason had done what he'd done. Feeling insurmountable guilt, Jason adopted the children and took them to Novac, where Jason raised them as his own.

He loved the children as his own, raising them as he wished his father had raised him. Jason lost his rage and made a new vow, to protect the children with everything he had, including his life.

**Willow's Ending.**

After the war ended in Vegas, Willow was surprised to see that Jason had brought two ragged children home with him. Rather than face the pain of childbirth herself, Willow allowed the children into her life. She made her living, hunting and scavenging, much like Jason had done as the Kid. Whilst Willow enjoyed the company, she missed home, her real family were waiting for her back in Reno. She had the choice to leave the group and the kids to go to Reno, or she could stay and live in Novac for the rest of her life.

She chose Reno after news of Legion attacks on Reno hit Novac, she packed her things and left to defend her family.

**Niner's Ending**

After Jason brought the children back from the fort, Niner felt awkward as Jason taught the kids fundamental things like reading and writing, something Niner could never do well. However, he loved Willow more than anything, but did not want to leave Jason alone. When Willow spoke of leaving, Niner gathered his things and left with her, hoping to make a better life for himself in Reno and hoping to never touch another bottle of Steady again. He too made a vow, to never leave Willow's side and to marry her when the time came.

**Seeker's group's Ending**

Seeker's group was a strange band of defenders, they were known as a scourge to the fiends and to the Legion. However, much to the surprise of everyone who had seen them, their quest was something much stranger than their attire. Seeker and his family found the grave in Vault-town, belonging to the lost child. It was made clear to them that the child was not found among the corpses left by the Legion. Seeker believed that he could find said child and return him to his family.

With the knowledge that the Kid was alive, they gathered their supplies and left to find him again. In Novac, they found him teaching two children to shoot, skin and carve an animal. As they approached, Jason showed fear and resistance, his vow was not broken.

After much negotiation, the group of ex-slaves managed to get Jason on the group along with the children. Along with many travels over the Mojave wasteland, they found numerous Legion revenants, to which they killed many. Eventually, they happened upon the long abandoned place of Jason's birth. However, the town was far from uninhabited.

**Vault town ending**

The vault was abandoned 13 years after the entry, it seemed as though the cramped walls were too much for some of the residents. Many of the town's people welcomed Seeker's group as Vault town was the forming place of Seeker and his group, happening upon the grave of the 'lost child' which just so happened to be Jason.

Seeker found Jason's parents for him, using Jason's facial structure as a map to find them. In a mix of tears and confusion, Jason found his parents. Finally, the lost child had returned home.

The group settled in vault town, Jason being able to raise his new children around other kids was a blessing as it allowed him and the group the continue their duties, defending the walls of vault town.

**Powder Gangers ending**

Frightened by the Legend of 'The Deathclaw' the remainder of the Powder Gangers dropped their criminal nature, releasing their prisoners out into the wasteland again. Needing a way to survive and earn money, many of the Powder Gangers decided to build the NCRCF into a farm, using the semi-fertile land to their advantage. With enough water and food to survive, many of the Powder Gangers stayed put whilst a select few left to find Vault 19.

**Ceaser's Legion**

Humiliated, the Legion that were left tried to scramble out of the Nevada state. Some went south, who were killed by Brotherhood of steel patrols. Some went north, but were killed by the tribals and treacherous terrain. Those who stayed were executed by the NCR and hunted by Seeker's group. However, Cesar's Legion was not done. It's chapter in the Mojave desert was ended, but somewhere, there were others waiting to take Cesar's place.


	7. Chapter 7

**Fallout – Extra chapter 1**

**Narrator**

The major events of Jason's life had led to a point where he found himself a legend across the wasteland, some had decided that the legends were false. However, the legend was true, the few Legion prisoners made this a reality; Spreading the word of the 'Deathclaw' that had ripped through several Legion soldiers during the battle at the fort.

**Jason**

Yet another wild animal wandered into vault town, another deathclaw dead. Why in hell's name I found myself fearing these things when I was being related to them made no sense. Pulling myself out of the chair on the roof of my house, I could see who it was who bagged the predator.

Alex, my son was frozen. Smoke still leaking from the barrel of his shotgun, he needed help so I helped him. I walked over to him and helped him lower the weapon, he was in shock that he'd survived.

"I'm- I'm not dead." He stuttered.

"No son, you aren't. I'm proud of you." I smiled at him.

He too smiled and put a hand to his head, lowering his shotgun. He figured that he should have died, not many people survived when they came toe to toe with a deathclaw. Those who did usually ended up with scars worse than mine, that meant something when Alex heard this, he believed he was stronger than I when I was his age. He was far from right.

"What should we do?" He asked, holstering his shotgun.

"I'll help you skin it. We can't eat these things anyhow." I retrieved my knife from its sheath in my belt and approached the monster.

Alex bent down to help, deathclaw skin was tough and very valuable to the right people, we knew the right people.

"You never told me, why did you get left behind here?" Alex blurted out as he made the first cut.

I had told Alex the story of my life, how I ended up becoming a legend among the wasteland; Something that he could not understand, yet I trusted him enough to try his best to. After all, he was almost a man now. Close to his 17th year in this world, he knew much of the world around him, but barely understood it.

"My parents forgot me, not in spite but in an accident," I explained briefly.

"How could they do that?" Alex slipped on the cut and almost sprayed blood all over his face.

"Be careful. Like I said it was an accident, like with your sister. Do you remember that?" I decided to find something relatable, to refresh his memory.

"Yeah, her leg still hurts her. I can't believe I did that."

Alex had accidentally closed a door on his sister when she had fallen over, the weight of the thing broke her leg, but she was trapped and there was nothing that we could do about it except accept what we'd done.

"It wasn't your fault. The vault was buggy to begin with, there was nothing that we could do to stop it. Much like my parents, they couldn't get the vault door open. Even if they had, the Legion would have slaughtered them like…" I stalled, trying to find an anecdote.

"Like you did the Legion?" He asked, finally making the vertical cut on the skin.

"Yeah." I sighed, doing the other horizontal cut.

I looked up at Alex, he was thin, tanned and had light brown hair. His breath formed in the cold air as he looked up at me.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing, you just remind me of myself when I was your age." I smiled.

Carving the beast was difficult, especially when you were trying to save the skin. Finally, after a minute of struggling, we did it, got the skin from its flesh.

"Who?" Alex breathed as he kicked the pulp mess in front of him.

"Me, when I was your age. You're strong of body and of will, quick, independent." I listed our similarities before he cut me off.

"I'm not leaving." He spoke sternly.

"Who said anything about leaving? I'm just saying, it's quite clear what we have in common. Come on, let's burn this thing and we'll talk some more." I shook my head as I grabbed the legs of the deathclaw and pulled it to the burning pile on the outskirts of the town.

The last thing we needed was the stench of rotting flesh at midday, even on colder days. Winter had come, it seemed like we were the only place that really prepared for it, we had food and water stockpiled for months. As we hauled the beast onto the fire, Alex and I began to walk back.

"What about what we don't have in common? The pistols for one, I never use them, rifles are my specialty." Alex smiled, pointing at the old peacemaker in my holster.

"But you never learned how to fight hand to hand though. I was useless kid, give me a knife and I'd probably stab myself in the excitement." I laughed

Two silhouettes hovered over near the town, usually we didn't get strangers, but every now and then we'd get the odd wanderers come into the town looking for trouble. My hand rested on the handle of my peacemaker as we neared the town.

"What's wrong?" Alex looked at my hand.

I saw some armored thugs get closer to the town, I turned my head to Alex.

"Get inside and look after your sister, this shouldn't take long." I smiled his way as I walked ever closer to the shadows, it definitely looked like trouble.

Alex did as he was told as I stood at the entrance to the town, things didn't look better as they became clearer, one man and one woman. They stayed still as did I, my hand twitched and gripped the pistol with white knuckles.

"Hey! State your business!" I yelled at the two as they neared closer.

"Jason!?" The woman shouted.

"Where have I heard that voice before?" I thought aloud.

"Jason it's Willow and Niner!" They began to walk ever closer.

Almost a decade had gone past since they last came to the Mojave, I hoped that they had good reason to come back. Although they were my friends, they abandoned me and the rest of Seeker's group without even a word, annoyed, I holstered the revolver.

After a couple of seconds, they were punching distance away. Willow the blonde had come back accompanied by Niner who looked as though he'd seen better days.

"Don't you remember us?" She pressed, hopeful.

"Of course I do. I also remember the lack of explanation to where it was you went and why exactly it was that you left without even a word of goodbye, not even to the kids." I sighed, bitterly.

Willow looked down.

"I'd hoped you'd forgotten about that." She sighed too.

"Yeah, my only family leaving me, that just flies over your head." I shook my head.

As if they could understand what it was like, just being left behind by the people you relied on most.

"Listen, I know you're angry but there's no need to be pissed." Niner tried.

"Listen? To you? Let me tell you something you steady huffing mother fucker, you left me here in the Mojave, just after the war. We had nothing, we were living off of scraps and we barely made it through. I'm beyond pissed." I turned my back on them and chose to walk away.

"You think we had it easy? Reno was filled with legion soldiers, we fought these past 10 years. 10 years straight!" Willow yelled.

"You haven't had to raise two kids whilst trying to survive the draught! You had it hard? At least you could breathe in Reno, we had the annual sandstorms!" I turned and yelled.

How they had the guile to come back after 10 years and try and tell me that they had it harder than we had it, I didn't know. With the draught, sandstorms and the NCR cold war we had it so rough that I actually found Alex contemplating blowing his brains out. They didn't know what pain was, they couldn't understand what I'd been through or what the kids had suffered.

When I turned, I felt something hit the ground behind me. I checked behind me, Willow had thrown a revolver at me. My revolver, the one that kept me company through the early years, something they'd stolen from me. Something that I'd replaced long ago.

I kept walking, back into Vault town. They followed me into the baron town, to hide from something that was following them. Or someone.

"Jason, please listen to us. We need help, we've been looking for you specifically." Niner called.

"Yeah? Well, let me tell you something, there's about a hundred other hired guns out here. Why come to me and ask me specifically, someone with kids to look after to help you with anything? Especially when you left him with those kids." I narrowed my eyes, knowing full well they cared, but it never felt like it.

"Because we can trust you. We want your help and you can bring the kids with you. This isn't a dangerous job." Niner raised his voice.

"The last time you said a job was easy, I had my skull cracked by a baseball bat, the people who did it stole your merchandise and left us for dead!" I'd had enough of walking away.

I turned and stared them down.

"It's a scavenging job, our employers want us to go to the big empty and take something that proves it's existence." She laid out the job description.

The door to my home flew open, Alex and Mary came to us, weapons at the ready.

"So?" I shrugged, noting that they were getting closer.

"Dad, who are they?" Alex asked.

A click rang out, he'd taken the safety off of his shotgun.

"It's Niner and Willow. You should remember them, although they didn't stay around for long." My eyes remained narrow.

"What happened to your leg Sarah?" Niner asked.

That was the final straw, I drew my pistol and aimed it at Niner's kneecap.

"Her. Name. Is. Mary." I growled.

"You mean to tell me, this is the same Niner and Willow who just up and left us? I tell you something, we're lucky you left us. We barely had enough water to last us through the first draught, Jason got sick soon after, real bad." Mary began to get angry, her blonde head shaking.

"We're sorry, we've told Jason already, you suffered the most. Please put the gun down." Willow began to shake.

"Say her name Niner. Come on, I told you already." I spoke darkly as I took the safety off.

"Mary... I'm sorry, but it's been so long." Niner shook.

"You remembered Dad, but you couldn't remember my name. Do you remember his?" She raged, her voice raised just below a shout.

"Wait... Dad?" Niner asked.

"Jason took us from the Legion, showed us how to lead good honest lives. He's a better father to us then any another man was." Alex kept his shotgun low.

Niner and Willow both looked ashamed, I stretched my hand out, a signal for Alex to lower the shotgun completely. I holstered my own pistol, ready to tell them one last thing.

"When you left that house-" I turned and pointed at the house we lived in.

"You left us for good. You took our caps, half our water store and you took Kid... You have no right to come here and ask us anything. Now I'm going to tell you something, pick Kid up, give it to me and turn your backs and walk away because as soon as you hand it to me, we are going home." I spoke, my voice staying as low as it ever did.

Willow looked at me, her eyes pleading as Niner bent down and took the revolver from the sand. He placed it in my outstretched hand, I stuck it in my belt and turned my back on them. Alex and Mary did the same and began to walk away.

"It pays 20 thousand caps!" Niner yelled.

Alex and Mary stopped.

"20" Alex spoke.

"Thousand." Mary finished.

"Five ways!" Willow called.

I was offended, to say the least, offering us money. However, 4 thousand caps for each Mary and Alex seemed like a godsend, a way for them to start their lives properly with their feet on the ground.

"That's..." Alex began.

"4 thousand each... Who's your employer?" I looked over my shoulder.

"President Kimball. If not for us Jason, how about for the NCR?" Niner called.

I turned, furious.

"My loyalty to the NCR ended when they actually **considered **killing these children. My children!" I yelled.

"Then for them," Willow spoke simply, nodding her head towards the kids.

**1 Day later**

We had traveled for a day, we weren't even out of vegas yet and the Big Empty wasn't an easy place to find. That wasn't even the worst thing, Alex and Mary hadn't shut up about the money and even worse still Willow and Niner were trying to convince me to forgive them. The amount of times my hand twitched for my pistol was hard to keep count of, one thing kept me sane though.

A flaming projectile flew through the air, leaving a trail of smoke behind it.

"Dad, what's that?" Alex shook.

"It looks like a missile." Niner looked with narrowed eyes at the object.

"He said, _Dad _ Niner... And yeah, but it could be anything." I kept focusing on it

Silence, everyone looked at it. However, I was the first one to realize something. The angle that the projectile was flying and the way that the smoke was trailing behind it, not to mention the fact that the dot was getting bigger and bigger.

"Move!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

Everyone scarpered attempting to get out of the way of the projectile, but I knew for a fact that Mary couldn't run fast enough. I picked her up, hauling her small frame over my shoulder as I sprinted towards Alex. As I did so, the sound of the thing getting closer was making me run faster.

"DAD!" Mary shouted in my ear.

I set her down, but as I was about to get down too I found it was too late. It hit the ground with such force, the impact caused such a large concussive blast it sent me flying. Because the others were lying down, they didn't get hurt, but I was blasted 6 feet in the air and thrown several meters back.

The landing was rough, so rough it knocked me out.

I was trapped in darkness, unable to get out.


End file.
